Big Two start with draws

Ahead of face-off,Anand and Carlsen held in respective first round ties

Viswanathan Anand began his campaign at the Norway Chess 2013 tournament with a quick draw in round one against Levon Aronian. The Ruy Lopez between Anand and Aronian was the shortest game of the day,and it also proved to be one of only two encounters that did not produce a result. Home boy Magnus Carlsen was held by former World Champion Veselin Topalov,but elsewhere,there were wins for Sergey Karjakin,Hikaru Nakamura and Peter Svidler.

Anand has recently opted to go with the Ruy Lopez when playing the king pawn with white and it was another such occasion on Tuesday. Anands sixth and seventh moves werent exactly novelties,but certainly did not come from the main line of the closed Ruy Lopez. Any advantage for white outside the opening was negligible and Aronian attained parity. With no obvious weaknesses for either sides,pieces were routinely exchanged and the position came down to a rook and pawns ending which held little promise for a result. The draw was signed after three-fold repetition on the 33rd move with the game ending lasting a little over two hours.

English opening

The game between Carlsen and Topalov followed the English opening,and like the Anand-Aronian game,never really flickered into life. Neither player held any kind of advantage at any point in time in the game,but the players kept plugging away. The game went on for close to five hours before truce was finally signed on the 51st move.

Twenty three-year old Karjakin came up with a clinical display against Teimour Radjabov,who has been suffering from a slump starting from the Candidates tournament in May. Karjakin,playing white,emerged from the Old Sicilian with an edge,and converted that into a pawn advantage by move 28. Under time trouble,Radjabov did his best,but even at that point there was little defense against whites passed pawn. The Azeri resigned by move 41.

Nakamuras win against Hao was one that came through play that typifies the Americans approach. Nakamura is known for his bold and unexpected pawn pushes in the middle game and Hao,perhaps unsettled,did not react in the most ideal way possible,going down in 41 moves. Svidler out played the lower ranked Hammer in 58 moves of the Grunfeld.

The draw for the tournament was decided in unique fashion on Tuesday. The winner of a blitz tournament held a day before the tournament could decide whether he would play with white four or five times in the ten-player round robin tournament. Players who finished second through fifth would get to play white five times. As it happened,Karjakin won the tournament with Carlsen,Anand and Nakamura tied for second. The draw meant that Carlsen would play Anand in the second round game on Thursday,with the Norwegian having the advantage of white pieces.

Results,Round One:

Magnus Carlsen Nor drew with Veselin Topalov; Viswanathan Anand Ind drew with Levon Aronian Arm; Hikaru Nakamura USA bt Wang Hao Chi; Peter Svidler Rus bt Jon Ludvig Hammer Nor; Sergey Karjakin Rus bt Teimour Radjabov Aze.

Pairings,Round Two:

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Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand; Veselin Topalov vs Teimour Radjabov; Levon Aronian vs Hikaru Nakamura; Wang Hao vs Peter Svidler; Jon Ludvig Hammer vs Sergey Karjakin.