2015

Zurich Chess Challenge – Hikaru Nakamura starts with a win

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura started the classical section of the 2015 Zurich Chess Challenge with a win over Fabiano Caruana.

The game opened as h3-Naidorf Sicilian, where soon Nakamura sacrificed a pawn for positional pressure. It looked liked white started to consolidate small material advantage, but then he went astray and black launched a devastating attack that was ending with checkmate.

Sergey Karjakin defended with Meran Slav, but Levon Aronian knows this opening very well and didn’t wait long before sacrificing a bishop for attack. But suddenly, instead of transferring the knight to a more aggressive post on h5, Aronian decided to take a draw by perpetual check.

The clash between Viswanahan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik was a Queen’s Gambit Exchange where both sides castled long and proceeded with long maneuvering. White was aiming for a breakthrough in the center, but his opponent kept firm control over the key e4-square. Following the exchange of all the rooks, the players agreed to a draw.

Replay games with analysis

On Sunday at 11h starts the rapid match between the two legends – Victor Korchnoi and Wolfgang Uhlmann.

Round 1 results:
Anand Viswanathan – Kramnik Vladimir 1/2-1/2
Aronian Levon – Karjakin Sergey 1/2-1/2
Caruana Fabiano – Nakamura Hikaru 0-1

Round 2 pairings:
Kramnik Vladimir – Nakamura Hikaru
Karjakin Sergey – Caruana Fabiano
Anand Viswanathan – Aronian Levon

Vijay Kumar provides the video from the opening ceremony and blitz tournament:

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