Magnus Carlsen

At 14:00 I went by the playing hall and observed lots of people making the preparations for round 1, but by 15:00 everything was ready.
Wang Yue had arrived late last night and all 14 participants were in their seats for the start of the game.  



Magnus played 1.e4 and Yue immediately deviated from what he has played before entering the Berlin wall in the Ruy Lopez.
Magnus avoided mainlines but did not get much from the opening and after 20.Qh3 the position was equal.
Over the next moves Magnus thought Yue played some inaccuracies and after the exchange of knights (and one rook) the ending is better for white.
Afterwards Magnus says he missed some slightly more promising continuations but does not feel that he ever was close to a decisive advantage.
In the end Yue defended well and a repetition of moves ended the game around move 60 with one rook and one pawn left each. 

Mamedyarov-Svidler ended in a perpetual check against the white king moving back and forth between a6 and b5 but according to Magnus they followed theory most of the way except for a change in move order at one point. 

Karjakin was white against Navara and black was much better when he started to collapse.
Finally he tricked Karjakin and could save the draw by perpetual check. 

Radjabov-Adams never looked really dangerous for any of the players and with queen + 7 pawns each it ended in a perpetual check by black. 

Gashimov - Bacrot was an interesting fight and after black had equalised he got into trouble when low on time. Magnus says Gashimov could have obtained a decisive advantage quite early with Qxf7! (treathening Kxf7 Ne5+ Kg8 Nxc6 with a rook fork) something both players probably missed.
The knight versus bishop endgame looked much better for white but Bacrot managed to hold the draw somehow. 

Inakiev had a clear advantage as white against Kamsky in the middle game and sacrificed a piece for 4 pawns. However, with little time left he allowed Kamsky to take control on the kingside and lost close to the second time control. 

Cheparinov-Grishuk was a tense fight until white sacked an exchange for dubious compensation.
The white h-pawn looked dangerous but Grishuk had calculated it out till the end and got his rook to h8 in time. 
Cheparinov duly resigned. 
Quite a start in round 1 with 2 black wins and zero white wins.
 
After the game we found a nice Italian restaurant nearby!  

Tomorrow Magnus is black against P.Svidler.
(Remarkably Magnus has have white against all 5 players below 2700 and consequently black against most of his strongest opponents in this tournament. 

The weather over here is  slightly clouded, some sun and close to 20 oC at noon. 

Henrik Carlsen
Baku, April 21th 2008