Moscow Grand Prix, Round 2, Day 1

We may (or may not) take a look back at the first round of this knockout event, but let's at least report on round 2, which started today/yesterday (Monday). The first round halved the field to a final eight, and day 1 of saw all four games finish in short draws.

With Black in a Tarrasch, Daniil Dubov chose a rare line against Hikaru Nakamura, and both players seemed well-prepared. I think Nakamura had an edge until his 22nd move, which allowed a tactical finesse that let Dubov equalize.

Alexander Grischuk hoped to make something of his bishop pair against Wesley So, but the American's feisty play prevented this hope from becoming a reality.

Ian Nepomniachtchi went for a conquer-d5 plan against Wei Yi's Sicilian. The plan is promising at the club level, but rarely pays off in games between super-GMs. Wei Yi showed the way to go, holding easily.

Interestingly, Peter Svidler chose the same third move as Nepo (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+), but against 3...Nd7 (common to both games) he went 4.0-0 instead of 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+, keeping the light-squared bishop and opting for a Ruy-style approach. Svidler apparently enjoyed an edge, but 18.b4 gave it away (and then some). His opponent, Radoslaw Wojtazek, didn't reply in the most accurate way, and a couple of moves later they called it a day.

The games, with my comments, are here; tomorrow/today will see the same pairings with colors reversed.