2018 Candidates Tournament has just started and round one brought four games we could have only wished for. In this encounter two giants were paired. Sergey Karjakin, last challenger to Magnus Carles and the previous candidates tournament winner and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the one player that has has a major increase in performance and rating last year. He is currently world’s number two and a favorite to win the tournament.
The game was an unusual Ruy Lopez, in which Mamedyarov decided to avoid main lines and theory Karjakin is well accustomed to and went for the fianchetto variation with 3…g6. The game entered a long queen endgame which Mamedyarov played perfectly.