2013 Candidates, Round 2: Radjabov-Ivanchuk Press Conference

This press conference featured just the one player, Teimour Radjabov, after his win against Vassily Ivanchuk

Teimour Radjabov after his round two win against Vassily Ivanchuk

2013 Candidates, Round 2: Aronian-Gelfand

We have our first decisive result but a slightly sad one as Boris Gelfand blundered away the game on move 25 with Rc8, allowing the winning tactic 26 Bh6+. The press conference was brief and low-key as there wasn't much to discuss and Gelfand's courteous and sensitive opponent did not want to rub salt into the wounds. Let a photo of the conference suffice and we will draw a veil...

Levon Aronian, Nastya Karlovich and Boris Gelfand at their round two press conference.

2013 Candidates, Round 2: Carlsen-Kramnik Press Conference

Well, that was dull stuff for the spectators, wasn't it? Most of the pieces hoovered off and a draw in 31 moves. Vlad Kramnik, as Black, was the happier of the two super-GMs, as you can see from the photo...

Vlad and interviewer Nastya Karlovich are happy but Magnus less so at first...

... but Magnus soon cheered up.

Of course, we only see the moves and not all the laboratory work that goes into preparing for them. Vlad seemed pretty pleased with the game as he had had an easy ride with Black against the top seed. He had seen Magnus's preparation coming and had even prepared it himself for a rapidplay play-off against Grischuk in Kazan in 2011, he told us. So he allowed himself a little dig at Magnus by saying he felt the Norwegian had made a mistake by playing, but Magnus did not rise to the bait.

Vlad told us how hard he was working and was asked how hard he would have had to have worked if he had been playing at the 1953 Zurich Candidates' which featured an eye-watering 28 rounds, rather than the 14 rounds he was required to play in London. Vlad opined that the 2013 event, though half the length in terms of games, was actually much harder because of computers and all the between-rounds work that modern tournaments required. "They only had two openings in 1953 - the Nimzo-Indian and the King's Indian Defence!" Magnus smiled at this comment.

Magnus was probably the less chuffed of the two, quite naturally, as he had had White and probably hoped to build a torture chamber for Vlad, much as he is accustomed to doing for his opponents at the London Classic a few miles down the road on his annual December visits. But he did tantalise us by saying he had invented a game, based on chess, which he would be telling us about soon - but not yet. Intriguing! It's not a video game, apparently.

Vlad also fielded a question about 'fighting chess' and retorted "they call it fighting chess - it just means the standard isn't very high!".

The players were invited to go through the game but, frankly, there wasn't much point. Vlad easily 'won' the post mortem as he had seen it all coming, and he effortlessly batted away a couple of queries from GMs with answers that seemed designed to show his all-embracing knowledge of this particular line. The man seems super-confident and his sound bites were razor-sharp. I wonder if the bookies' odds have shifted a little in his favour...

Live Video Feed ... http://london2013.fide.com/livegames/livevideo/index.html

2013 Candidates: Round 2 Photo Report

Rather than expend a lot of words, I thought I would kick off today with some photos of the action...

Magnus has White today against Vlad Kramnik so we can expect a protracted battle - can't we?

Pleasant smile for me from Boris...

... but Levon should not expect such a friendly reception.

Vassily Ivanchuk shields his face, while Teimour Radjabov carefully arranges the pieces.

Peter Svidler plays another Russian, this time Alexander Grischuk

Arbiter Werner Stuebenvoll goes from board to board, starting clocks.

Magnus Carlsen starts building a torture chamber for Vlad Kramnik (he hopes)

Another shot from the gallery of the lecture theatre.

A few more photos soon...

... And They're Off! Candidates 2013

Round 1: Levon Aronian has white against Magnus Carlsen

Play has started at Savoy Place in one of the most eagerly-awaited chess tournaments for years. This could be the start of Magnus Carlsen's inexorable rise to the world title. That is, if the other seven players haven't read the script. Teimour Radjabov is quoted as saying "there are no favourites" and, while I wouldn't agree with that, it has to be said that the 'Seven Samurai' that Magnus faces - Levon Aronian, Vlad Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk [edit -Oops! I left Ivanchuk out of my original list - JS] - all have a realistic chance of success.

Play has been in progress for just over an hour as I write and, of course, nothing of significance has happened at the board. All four boards look level (ish). So, instead of commentary on the play, I'll share a couple of amusing incidents with you.

The first was when arbiter Werner Stuebenvoll introduced the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to the audience and said that he was about to make the traditional opening move of the game "Anand-Radjabov". This elicited a laugh from the audience, and the arbiter quickly corrected it to "Gelfand-Radjabov". Perhaps he had forgotten that Vishy Anand had succeeded in retaining his title against Boris Gelfand last year.

The second was when Vlad Kramnik took out his pen from his inside jacket pocket. He fumbled with it for a  few moments but an amused expression on his face was the clue to a serious pen malfunction. Calamity! He got up and went offstage for a few moments but, luckily, he was back at the board with a new pen before the arbiter called 'play'. (We wouldn't want any 'zero tolerance' defaults, would we?)

One more serious bit of gossip: FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been quoted as saying in a press interview today that the next world title match, in which Vishy Anand will meet the winner of the London tournament, will "probably be in India".

Boris Gelfand at the Opening Ceremony

Boris Gelfand at the opening ceremony in London, 14 March 2013

It was great to see Boris Gelfand at the opening ceremony of the Candidates' tournament yesterday. I interviewed him for CHESS Magazine last year. It was one of the high points of my entire career as a journalist and editor as Boris proved to be a charming and generous interviewee. Later in the year I was disappointed for him when he just missed out on winning the world title but the positive attitude he showed during the match and afterwards was inspirational and he was buoyed up by the fantastic reception he received when he returned home to Israel. His presence adds class to the field in London. Can he win? He has already taught us not to underestimate him. I wish him the very best of luck.

2013 Candidates' Opening Ceremony

Phew! It's been a while since I last blogged here (last June - that's around nine months). But I decided it was time to dust off my old blog site for the biggest chess tournament to hit London... ever? The 2013 World Championship Candidates' Tournament is something very special: eight top players competing for the right to meet Vishy Anand in a title match later this year (or perhaps early next year - you always have to build in some delay contingent when foreseeing such an event.

Your table is (nearly) ready, gentlemen...

I find there is a sense of unreality preceding a major chess event and, when big-time chess hits London, I always find myself unable to believe that I am really going to be seeing world-class players, practically on my doorstep. So, when I visited the venue today, for the opening ceremony, I had to have a quick look round the actual playing area. It's not quite ready yet, but it looks as if it only needs a couple of hours' work to be shipshape. But the sight of that table, with the name cards 'Aronian' and 'Carlsen' already attached to the side helped bring home to me that this thing is really going to be happening. Exciting, isn't it?

Follow the action here: london2013.fide.com
And also here: chessvibes.com

More fun tomorrow...