31 March 2018
Nikita Vitiugov Starts Grenke Chess Classic With Victory
Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana make a draw.
Photo by Georgios Souleidis
On March 31, the first round games of Grenke Chess Classic were played in Karlsruhe. Nikita Vitiugov gained a bright victory against Matthias Bluebaum. Magnus Carlsen was close to defeat Fabiano Caruana, but the candidate for the title managed to survive. The games Meier - Aronian, Naiditsch - Vachier-Lagrave, and Anand - Hou Yifan were drawn as well.
Standings after round 1:
1. Nikita Vitiugov - 1
2-9. Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Viswanathan Anand, Arkadij Naiditsch, Hou Yifan, Georg Meier - 0.5
10. Matthias Bluebaum - 0.
Round 2 pairings:
Carlsen - Hou Yifan, Vachier-Lagrave - Anand, Aronian - Naiditsch, Vitiugov - Meier, Caruana - Bluebaum.
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