Vitiugov wins again in a lively round 2 of the GRENKE Classic - 2
Vitiugov is a French specialist having written a nice book on the opening but today he played with white and chose the Advanced French against Georg Meier. Vitiugov felt black got equality after 15.Rc1 (15.Ra2!?) and the game continued to be balanced until 22...Nc4? (22...Ra8!?) which was based on a miscalculation according to Meier, he overlooked that the b7 pawn would be unprotected when a knight arrives on d6. Following this Vitiugov was winning and he eventually brought home the full point.
Vachier-Lagrave defeated Viswanathan Anand in a sharp Sicilian where 11.Bxb5 was prepared by MVL some time ago but he couldn't remember the precise details. Anand used up a lot of time and by move 24 not only did he have a bad position in an endgame but he also had much less time, Anand didn't last long and he resigned on move 38.
Levon Aronian scored his first win since round 4 of the Candidates against Arkadij Naiditsch. Aronian surprised black with the Hungarian variation of the King's Indian, quickly got a huge bind and advantage and after Naiditsch lashed out with 16...f5 was completely winning just a few moves later and won on move 35.
Fabiano Caruana was held very comfortably by Matthias Bluebaum in a French Defence, the game was drawn by repetition on move 36.
Round 2 Standings: 1st Vitiugov 2pts, 2nd-4th Carlsen, Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave 1.5pts, 5th Caruana 1pts, 6-10th Naiditsch, Meier, Bluebaum, Anand, Hou Yifan 0.5pts
Round 3 Pairings Monday 2nd April 2pm BST: Bluebaum-Carlsen, Meier-Caruana, Naiditsch-Vitiugov, Anand-Aronian, Hou Yifan-Vachier-Lagrave.