2022 FIDE Grand Prix Berlin R1: Wojtaszek, Fedoseev, Aronian Start With Wins
The first round of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix saw three decisive games in an intense start to the group stage of the event. After the first of the total six double round-robin games to be played among players of each group, GM Vladimir Fedoseev and GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek are in joint lead in Group B, while GM Levon Aronian is the leader in Group C. All the games in Groups A and D ended in hard-fought draws, thus no clear leader emerging in the groups.
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Group A
GM Hikaru Nakamura played out an effective Berlin dampener against GM Etienne Bacrot, neutralized White's opening advantage quite effectively, and drew the game. And then he came up with staggering admissions at the post-game interview. Reminded that this was his first classical tournament in more than two years - he played last at the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 at Hamburg in October 2019 - he admitted that his preferences shifted in the past months, "I enjoy streaming - that's the main thing!... I do think at the end of the game [today] I was too jumpy. I was moving a little bit too quickly. Just because I haven't played for too long, playing classical [chess] seemed very boring! Maybe I have to move a bit slower."
I was moving a bit too quickly. Just because I haven't played for too long, playing classical (chess) seemed very boring!
—GM Hikaru Nakamura
Nakamura's long hiatus from classical chess inspired the obligatory memes:
— Chess.com (@chesscom) February 4, 2022
GM Alexander Grischuk took a full 48 minutes' think for his 10th move which made sure that he was going to land under his usual time pressure. In an all-Russian clash, his opponent GM Andrey Esipenko was not able to gain any advantage in the middlegame when he unexpectedly blundered with 28.Qb1:
Talking in his usual effervescent style after the game, Grischuk joked, "It was unexpected for me that I got such a big advantage. Throughout the game, I was just happy with a draw. Andrei played Qb1 [on the 28th move], which looked ridiculous—probably is ridiculous, but it threw me off completely!" as his opponent watched with a chuckle.
♟️🇩🇪 | Some after-game whispers might end up in a good laugh!#timetosayBerlin https://t.co/HnRk75ezBc pic.twitter.com/MB41Ma4auy
— World Chess (@theworldchess) February 4, 2022
Andrey played Qb1, which looked ridiculous—probably is ridiculous, but it threw me off completely!
—GM Alexander Grischuk
Group B
Fedoseev scored the first win of this Grand Prix tournament when he outwitted GM Grigoriy Oparin systematically from the white side of a typical Catalan Opening.
With GM Ding Liren being a non-starter at the event, Group B turned out to be the least strong of all of them in terms of average rating, as his replacement Wojtaszek was rated more than 100 Elo less than the Chinese grandmaster. But, for such a last-minute entrant in such a strong tournament, Wojtaszek started off very well. Relentlessly applying pressure on Black, he won a classic game of "White-squeeze" against the higher-rated GM Richard Rapport.
Group C
The joint top-seed of the event (along with GM Wesley So), rated 2772, Aronian is representing the United States of America, his newly adopted country, for the first time. On such a historic occasion, he scored a fighting win against the Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi from the white side of a Nimzo-Indian Defense, taking advantage of his opponent's error in the endgame:
Russian GM Daniil Dubov seemed to be in a tight spot against young GM Vincent Keymer, but he escaped with a draw by resorting to a confident decision in the endgame:
Group D
With an all-2700+ line-up and the highest Elo average of 2736 between the four players, Pool D had a day of opening preparation, as the players with the white pieces faced specific preparation from their opponents which neutralized their first-move advantage in both the games.
GM Alexei Shirov and GM Pentala Harikrishna entered an obvious theoretical battle from deep preparation, entering into an endgame within half an hour of the game's start.
The pool also had the distinction of having two Americans, So and GM Leinier Dominguez, who played each other in the first round. So admitted after the game that he was surprised by Dominguez's bold opening choice and mixed up his preparation in the opening. But, just as Nakamura did, he too came up with a surprisingly bold admission regarding his travel from North America to Europe: "Today wasn't ideal. I still haven't slept well. I was falling asleep on the board! Today was not my day."
I still haven't slept well. I was falling asleep on the board!
—GM Wesley So
Results
All games round 1
FIDE Grand Prix Berlin is the first of three legs of the event. The Berlin tournament takes place February 4-17. Tune in each day at 6 a.m. Pacific/ 15:00 CET for our broadcast.
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