Three decisive games at the first day of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022
Round 1 of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 started today with some really exciting games. The rating replacement, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, along with Vladimir Fedoseev, and Levon Aronian had the first decisive games of the tournament, with Aronian being the sole leader in Pool C.
It seems that Catalan is the new black, as Esipenko-Grischuk, Fedoseev-Oparin, and Wojtaszek-Rapport dived into it on their first Grand Prix game.
The most exciting and anticipated game of Round 1 was Esipenko against Grischuk.
With less than a minute on their clocks, Grischuk put some serious pressure on Esipenko’s king but missed his chance and ended the game with a threefold repetition. ”So Kb4 already spoils my advantage, right?” Grischuk surprisingly asked at the after-game interview and then added: “First of all it was a bit unexpected for me that I got such a big advantage (both laughing at this) because throughout the game I was happy with a draw and then Andrey played Qb1 which looks ridiculous and probably is ridiculous (both laughing again) but it threw me off completely!”
Bacrot-Nakamura, another anticipated game because of Nakamura’s absence from classical chess, also ended in a draw. The American streamer highlighted that playing classical chess after such a long time felt kind of boring. Their game felt comfortable though for both players, getting into the Berlin Defense, as they did at the 2017 Paris Grand Chess Tour as well.
Keymer and Dubov couldn’t say the same after their really intense fight. Their game ended in a rook and bishop vs. rook endgame which Dubov defended in an exemplary way. “He didn’t have to go for this endgame, so when he did, he should have known everything about it” Keymer stated.
Not even an hour from the beginning of the game, the Shirov-Harikrishna game has reached the endgame. “I analyzed this endgame quite deep a few years back, and I thought white was much better, but maybe I made a mistake” Shirov confessed after the match.
GM Wesley So plays his very first over-the-board game in 108 days after winning his third U.S. title in St. Louis. His game against Dominguez also ended in a draw with So saying: “Today wasn’t ideal. I think I’m still jetlagged!”
Oparin had black for the first time against Fedoseev and it didn’t go equally well. The first impressions of the game showed a balanced position, but Oparin’s weak pawn structure betrayed him and it eventually lost him the game.
Wojtaszek on the other hand seemed to have an advantage against Rapport from the very beginning. The Polish GM steadily increased his pressure until the end and eventually gained the point.
The last decisive game of the tournament was Aronian against Vidit. With seconds on his clock, Vidit blundered on move 36 and gave Aronian a big advantage which earned him the sole point of Pool C.
Join our live stream with GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko and WIM Jesse February and watch the games.
