Three Way Tie for First at Halftime in Croatia

Hi everyone! In this blog, I will be writing about the Croatia Grand Chess Tour. If you enjoyed this blog, make sure to check out my previous coverage here or my blog here.

Four Decisive Results to Kick Off Croatia Grand Chess Tour

World Champion Magnus Carlsen, World #2 Fabiano Caruana, Russian #1 Ian Nepomniachtchi, and former US Champion Wesley So won to kick off the Croatia Grand Chess Tour event. The event was largely inspired by former World Champion Garry Kasparov who has citizenship to Croatia. Kasparov made the first move in Carlsen's game against Dutch #1 Anish Giri and appeared on the commentary team afterward, saying that "...if Giri is 2800, Magnus is definitely 2900!" Without further ado, here is the game with annotations courtesy of Chess.com's Rakesh Kulkarni.

However, Carlsen wasn't the only one who 'drew blood' in the inaugural round of the tournament. Here is Caruana's win against countryman and US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, again annotated by Kulkarni.

Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand got an attack out of the opening against Nepomniachtchi, but he was unable to capitalize on it and allowed the queens to come off the board, resulting in a win for the Russian. Kulkarni provided annotations and analysis.

The final decisive game was a masterpiece as So took down the super solid World #3 Ding Liren to see himself back into the live top 10 in the world. Here is the 'Game of the Day' annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov.

Even the two draws were packed with action. Here they are, with analysis from Chess.com's Kulkarni.

Nepomniachtchi Leads In 'Less Bloody' Round 2

Ian Nepomniachtchi took the helm in Round 2, winning his second game in a row (and second worse position in a row) against Fabiano Caruana. "I'm not very satisfied with my play. Of course, I am satisfied with the result but the play should be improved", commented 'Nepo' in his interview. This round was just as exciting as Round 1, although the decisive results decreased by 75%. Here is the only decisive game of the round, annotations courtesy Chess.com's Dejan Bojkov.

World #1 Magnus Carlsen almost converted an endgame advantage against 2013 and 2014 World Championship opponent Viswanathan Anand. It is rare that Carlsen fails to grind down his opponent in an endgame, but this was one of those cases. (Note: This game and all others this round have been annotated by Chess.com's very own Rakesh Kulkarni).

The other almost decisive game was played between Ding Liren and Sergey Karjakin.

The other three draws were pretty well...drawish. Here they are.

Nepo Only Victor Again To Continue Perfect Score

Ian Nepomniachtchi was again the only winner to become a full point ahead of the field with 3/3. This prompted many to speculate whether the Russian would reach the prestigious 2800 rating before the event ends. Here is yet another Nepo win, with annotations from Chess.com's Sam Copeland.

However, Nepomniatchchi's win against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wasn't the most anticipated and (arguably) exciting game of the round. For the second time in a row, Fabiano Caruana got a fleeting winning chance against his 2018 World Championship opponent, Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen blundered a pawn from an equal position, although he was still able to grovel for a draw. Here is the game:

Ding Liren continued to play solid chess, with his second draw in a row. This time it was in a sharp line against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, decided by a quick perpetual.

Here are the remaining three draws:

All Draws as Carlsen Continues to be on the Back Foot

Magnus Carlsen continued to slug behind Ian Nepomniachtchi after a hard fought draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Here is that game, annotated by Dejan Bojkov.

Nepomniachtchi was again in trouble, against Sergey Karjakin, but a blunder from the former World Championship Challenger allowed Nepomniatchtchi to get his first draw.

Another game that could've easily been decisive was Fabiano Caruana's 'almost win' against Armenian #1 Levon Aronian. Sam Copeland is the annotator.

'MVL' also missed a nice tactic against Anish Giri. Can you find it?

Ding Scores Sole Win As Nepomniachtchi Continues to Lead

Ding Liren was the only player to win in the fourth straight round with 0-1 decisive results. This round was also marked by an important statistic. Before the tournament, Norwegian reporter and journalist Tarjei Svensen posted this tweet. In all of those tournaments, Carlsen was 0.5 points behind first place or in first place after Round 5, so this is the first time since the World Rapid Championship that Carlsen was that far behind (1 point or more) after 5 rounds. Without further ado, here is Ding's win, annotated by Rakesh Kulkarni.

Before the games, Garry Kasparov stated: "Nepomniachtchi is yet to play Magnus and as long as this game is not played, I would consider Magnus the favorite [to win the tournament]." However, Karjakin held a draw easily against the World Champion in a game that I picked Magnus to win.

Aronian continued to play exciting chess with a near win against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. As commentator Alejandro Ramirez said: "I wouldn't be surprised if Levon gets checkmated. I wouldn't be surprised if Mamedyarov gets checkmated. I wouldn't be surprised if they make a draw. Nothing at this point surprises me."

The remaining three draws saw Nakamura and So with slight advantages but nothing to 'write home about'.

Bloody Round to Close Off First Half As Carlsen and So Emerge To First

Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So joined Ian Nepomniachtchi in first, both winning their games as Nepo went down against Ding Liren. Here is Nepo vs. Ding with analysis from Sam Copeland.

Another masterpiece (this one more positional) was played by Wesley So to rise up to World #5 in the live rating list.

Carlsen is the third and final leader after six rounds. Here is his game against Hikaru Nakamura, who he has a record of 14 wins and 1 loss against after this game.

Aronian handed Karjakin his first loss with a beautiful exchange sacrifice.

'Fabi' also reached a positive score after beating the Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave.

The final draw was not much to talk about as Giri and Anand quickly split the point.

Enjoy!