Julius Baer Generation Cup kicked off today with the Preliminary stage featuring 16 players spanning the age spectrum. The first day of the event finished with Magnus Carlsen taking the sole lead with 10 points, while Praggnanandhaa, Vassily Ivanchuk, Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi follow with 9 points.
Julius Baer Generation Cup Pairings & Schedule / Julius Baer Generation Cup – LIVE games
Vassily Ivanchuk joined the live studio and analyzed his games from the first four rounds. Speaking about how the war in Ukraine affected his life and chess career, Ivanchuk said: “Fortunately, I am more or less safe, if it’s possible to be safe in Ukraine. It’s not easy now to go from Ukraine to another country because I am a man and I am in category between 18 and 60 (years). So I am staying at home and I hope the war will finish as soon as possible. I don’t want to know that some other people are killed. Of course that I don’t like it and I think that people who can think logically need to do something to stop this nightmare! People, very young people are killed for nothing“. He explained that chess is very important for him in these circumstances but also that chess was very important for him all his life. “I didn’t play without online (chess) for more than two and a half years, but it wasn’t my decision to stop playing chess. First it was pandemic, then war started, and I am waiting for opportunity to come back to active chess, not only online” concluded Vassily. See the complete interview below
