Alekhine R05: Vachier leads after Paris leg

Alekhine's portrait gleams in approval of today's round

Kramnik, Vladimir -Fressinet, Laurent 0-1
Kramnik relies again on a quick 1.Nf3 2.g3 setup to try to outplay his opponent after the opening moves are over. In this case, Fressinet had a little surprise ready for him. The idea of playing a quick Nc6 and d5 usually is not great against the Queen's Gambit setups because of the pressure on d5: the knight on c6 unfortunately blocks Black's possibility of ever defending it. However since White committed to such an early g3 this is less of an issue.

The game exploded quickly into fireworks as Fressinet sacrificed a pawn as early as move six and proceeded to long castle, trying to take advantage of White's slow development. By move twelve he was down a full piece, but his positional compensation was raging and White still had no development on the board. Black's compensation grew move by move: his bishops activated powerfully, he obtained a passed h-pawn and White's coordination was non existent. By move 20 Kramnik was lost, but what really sealed the deal was a further bishop sacrifice on f2, allowing Black's passed pawns to rush forward. A complete demolition. Our friend GM Chirstian Ioan-Chirila fully annotates for us:

Guest commentator Alexander Grischuk warning Fressinet against treating top Russian grandmasters in such a way...

Anand, Vishy - Ding Liren 1-0

When top players play the Caro-Kann, many times they achieve a comfortable draw. Once in a while, however, they get absolutely destroyed. This was one of those cases. After sacrificing a pawn in the opening Black obtained good pressure against White's queenside pawns as well as the weak pawn on e5. However he might have cashed in his chips too quickly, as when he took on e5 White's pieces suddenly came to life. White's pressure on the kingside became unbearable and some simple moves were sufficient to leave Black's king hopelessly defenseless.

Ding Liren prepares himself against the Indian's forthcoming ambush

Adams, Michael - Vitiugov, Nikita 1/2-1/2
Black's knight that started on g8 had made a tour around the board and landed on a6 before move ten was played, and yet Black seemed to be doing quite alright out of the opening. The game became very murky as Black pushed his kingside pawns forward while White did the same in the center. The complications lead to a position in which Adams had a slight edge in an endgame, but eventually he was unable to convert it.

MVL putting the last finishing touches on Svidler

Svidler, Peter - Vachier Lagrave, Maxim 0-1
A bizarre anti-Gruenfeld gave the Russian grandmaster a strong center, but in exchange Vachier obtained the pair of bishops: always an interesting fight. The excitement was augmented as the players castled in opposite sides, and a small combination by Svidler gave him an extra pawn but opened the position for Black's pieces. Some precise moves later, Vachier recovered his pawn in an endgame where White had a two versus one majority on the kingside, and Black had the same on the queenside. These positions are a text-book advantage for the bishop, and the technique shown was extremely accurate. Vachier emerges as the sole leader after the Paris leg.

Gelfand, Boris - Aronian, Levon 1/2-1/2
Gelfand faced again the Semi-Slav that gave him something to think about in his World Championship match against Anand last year. This time he again seems to not obtain much from the opening, and if anything Black's bishop seemed to give him a slight edge. Aronian simplified into a drawn rook endgame and that was the end of this duel.

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