Caruana Leads Pack Of 32 Winners

32 players lead the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss and 15 in the 2023 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss after round one.

In the Open, top seed GM Fabiano Caruana leads the pack after winning a spectacular game against GM Ivan Saric. Other notable wins (of many) were those of GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, which is the Game of the Day, and an attack culminating with a queen sacrifice by GM Arjun Erigaisi.

In the Women's section, the top three seeds—GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Mariya Muzychuk—were held to draws. In a winning position, Goryachkina blundered the exchange and was objectively losing to 26th seed IM Ann Matnadze but survived.

Round two begins on Tuesday, October 26, at 9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CEST /19:00 IST.  

• Open
• Women's 

The Villa Marina, in Douglas, hosts the third edition of the FIDE Grand Swiss. While it was home to five strong nine-round tournaments in the years 2014-2018, which went by different names and were not part of the world championship cycle, it is the second time the venue welcomes the premier FIDE event—and the first time since the COVID pandemic began. 

Besides the $600,000 prize fund across both sections, the Candidates tournament spots are surely the most coveted reward. The top two finishers in each section will qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournaments, which will determine the next FIDE world championship and women's world championship challengers. 

The last FIDE Grand Swiss, in 2021, was held in Riga, Latvia, and there were also two Candidates spots available then, claimed by GMs Alireza Firouzja and Caruana. This year, Caruana already has his Candidates spot after finishing third in the World Cup, but Firouzja still needs his. 

In 2019, in Douglas, GM Wang Hao won the single spot offered.

Something to watch for will be the clash of generations. The question is: will the old guard grasp another shot at the world title, or is it time for the younger generation to step up?

A possible third question should also be asked: will someone outside the world's elite rise to the occasion? Just last week in the Qatar Masters, another super-strong Swiss tournament, 19th-seed GM Nodirbek Yakubboev showed that the favorites don't always prevail. 

Open

The tournament brings in 114 invited players to the Open. Like in 2021, two Candidates seats will be given to the top two finishers.

The tournament is 11 rounds and boasts a field with an average rating of 2636. The time control likens to a marathon: 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for the rest of the game, with another 15 minutes added after move 60—plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The longest game, GM Pentala Harikrishna vs. GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra, ended after over seven hours of broadcast time (draw). 

Not all the top players are participating, but most are. Carlsen just played in the Qatar Masters, where he lost twice, and he isn't interested in the world title. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, already in the Candidates, also opted not to play.

Other missing top-20 players include GM Wesley So and GM Leinier Dominguez, who just played in the U.S. Championships, and GM Teimour Radjabov, who finished tied third-fourth in the last Candidates.

World Champion Ding Liren has played in just one over-the-board tournament since achieving the world title, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2023 in May. GMs Alexander Grischuk and Daniil Dubov were unable to acquire visas before the tournament. 

Round 1: No Easy Pairings

Caruana, the top seed, should have great memories from the Isle of Man. In 2016 he tied for first-second with GM Pavel Eljanov with 7.5/9 and a 2908 performance. In 2017, he beat GM Vladimir Kramnik in round one, lost to Carlsen in round eight, and went 6.5/9 with a 2831 performance. In 2019, he tied in first-second with Wang (who had better tiebreaks), and in 2021, Caruana finished in second for a ticket to the Candidates. 

The American grandmaster, who lost his luggage after his Chicago-Madrid flight was delayed 12 hours, still had a perfect start to the tournament. In his game against 58th-seed Saric, rated 2647, he responded to the uncommon 6.Bd3 with the "Dragondorf" setup.

16...Nf6!? was a cunning winning attempt and, successfully, it provoked Saric to sacrifice the exchange. Despite the black king never castling—or even moving once the whole game—king safety never became a problem for the three-time U.S. champion.

An interesting pairing in round two will be Caruana vs. GM Hans Niemann, as the latter also won his game. 

Boards two through five—featuring  GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Firouzja, Anish Giri, and Gukesh D—all ended in draws. In Swiss tournaments, round one is typically the easiest for top seeds, but this is not the case here. As a testament to the average strength in this tournament, for example, Firouzja was paired against former FIDE World Champion GM Ruslan Ponomariov. 

Nakamura ran into trouble early against German number-four GM Rasmus Svane but with resourceful defense saved the half-point. He analyzes the game in the video below, where he summarizes his round: "Definitely not what I was hoping for but, considering the opening and how shaky of a game this was, and the fact that I was probably completely lost... I cannot complain."

Duda was, meanwhile, the first player to win a game. After GM Pouya Idhani's 17...g5?, the game resembled a King's Indian type of imbalance, with Black attacking on the kingside and White racing for counterplay on the queenside. Starting with 18.Nxa5!  Duda showed that his plan materialized faster, with cold-blooded accuracy amid dark storm clouds surrounding his own king. 

This brazen victory, in which the Polish number-one laughed in the face of danger, is our Game of the Day, annotated below by GM Rafael Leitao.

Other winners, ordered by rating, were GMs Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian, Yu Yangyi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun, and Parham Maghsoodloo.

Arjun, who's in Douglas for the first time, played a nice exchange sacrifice to begin a crushing attack. Although GM Frederik Svane (yes, the brother of Rasmus) had ways to defend objectively, the attack was practically too difficult to repel. We were treated to a sparkling queen sacrifice: 29.Qxh6!!. 

What a bounceback for the 20-year-old Indian prodigy, who was in the running to win the Qatar Masters until a heartbreaking blunder in the last round. He said: "Normally, it's very tough to get over such a heartbreaking game, but recently, I think mentally I've been getting stronger."

23-year-old Maghsoodloo has gained 28 rating points in the last month and, after winning today, is number 16 in the world. This was the final position after 37 moves:

A picturesque finish from Maghsoodloo!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/tE5HILhyPS

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 25, 2023

With 57 boards in play, it is impossible to review or even comment on every game. But one interesting pairing on the lower boards was that between Ukrainian hero and legendary GM Vasyl Ivanchuk and his 14-year-old countryman, 2515-rated IM Ihor Samunenkov. The former world number-two was held to a draw.

A battle of the ages between two Ukrainian players today: Vasyl Ivanchuk, born in 1969 and one of the oldest players in the field, takes on Ihor Samunenkov, one of the youngest participants, born in 2009. #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/Qjt1IdbNPs

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) October 25, 2023

Blunders, Upsets, Missed Opportunities

Aronian was the second player in the tournament to win, thanks to the tactic 23...Rxc4! followed by 24...Rc2!. Fortunately for the Armenian-American player, the ...Rxc4 move was actually available one move earlier; both players missed it, and he got a second chance (which could have been prevented). 

Aronian sees one step further and is now winning!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/2Vm1qR2VX4

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 25, 2023

Wednesday's most crushing blunder came from GM Vidit Gujrathi, who was upset by GM Erwin l'Ami—although it's hard to talk about "underdogs" when writing about a 2627-rated grandmaster and established author. Vidit just celebrated his 29th birthday the day before.

It was another terrible case of the notorious move 40, when both players with little time rushed to gain an additional 50 minutes on their clocks. Grave errors often happen on move 40 or near it. 

In this case, he missed a clearly winning move in the time trouble—and went on to blunder exactly on move 40, leaving his opponent 50 minutes to figure out the win. 

Vidit misses a win in the time trouble a few moves ago, but makes a blunder on move 40!

L'Ami now has an additional 50 minutes to find the only winning move, 41.Nf5+. A tragedy for Vidit, who celebrated his birthday yesterday! #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/AYy1tLZzSv

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 25, 2023

"I think I'm number 70 or 80 in this field [he's 72], which tells you all you need to know... I think it's for sure the strongest open I've ever played," said L'Ami after the game. 

English IM Royal Shreyas, rated 2407, outplayed 2650-rated Spanish GM Jaime Santos Latasa in an endgame with knight and rook for each side. Kazakh IM Ramazan Zhalmakhonov (2447) also beat Argentinian-born GM Alan Pichot (2650). 

While not exactly a grand upset, GM Niclas Huschenbeth beat the higher-rated GM David Navara with a puzzle-like solution, 61.h5!! in the following position.

The following position is a nice calculation exercise. White has only one move that wins!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/LMuntrXqpf

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 25, 2023

18-year-old German number-one GM Vincent Keymer apparently missed a win against 17-year-old Russian GM Volodar Murzin, but commentator Leko later pointed out that the computer line to victory wasn't clear or intuitive at all. That game ended in a draw.

28.Nxf7! was winning for Keymer, but with both players low on time, he missed the chance! https://t.co/aPjw210QAA #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/qn3ogXI9s4

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 25, 2023

Yakubboev deservedly garnered attention after winning the Qatar Masters last week but succumbed to his higher-rated opponent, Armenian number-one GM Haik Martirosyan, in the first round. Not an upset by any means, but it is worth pointing out. 

Round 1 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.) 

Women's

This is the second time the women's event has been held, the first one being in 2021. In this section, too, there are two Candidates spots for the taking. 

Let's start with who's not playing.

World Champion Ju Wenjun could participate but didn't. GM Lei Tingjie, her most recent challenger, is already in the Candidates and chose not to play either. IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, who this year got her Spanish citizenship and is the Spanish number-one, was nevertheless unable to join due to Visa issues.

Hopefully the Grand Swiss will be the last tournament I miss because of the visa issues.

— sara khadem (@saraakhadem) October 25, 2023

Another two players missing from the world top-20 are GMs Zhu Jiner and Zhansaya Abdumalik. 

Top-seed Goryachkina should count her lucky stars, although the same can be said for her opponent. After blundering the exchange in a winning position, the Russian GM salvaged a draw against Matnadze with the bishop against a rook. 

One of the most shocking and one-sided games was German number-one GM Elisabeth Paehtz' miniature against up-and-coming American IM Alice Lee, who just last week finished third in another 11-round marathon, the U.S. Women's Championship. 

Number-two and three seeds, respectively GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and Mariya Muzychuk, were also held to draws. Meanwhile, favorites such as GM Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk prevailed in their games.

Dutch star IM Eline Roebers, rated 2390, took down 2500-rated IM Polina Shuvalova, who recently won the 2023  I'M Not A GM SCC event. 

Other upsets include IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (2385) defeating GM Nino Batsiashvi (2475), WGM Savitha Shri (2375) overcoming IM Marsel Efroimski (2447), and WGM Meruert Kamalidenova winning against IM Vantika Agrawal. 

Commentator IM Tania Sachdev (2389) also held GM Harika Dronavalli (2502) to a draw.

Round 1 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.)

The 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss (FGS) is one of the events of the FIDE World Championship cycle, with the top two players qualifying for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The FGS starts on October 25 at 9:30 a.m. ET/15:30 CEST/19:00 IST and features a $460,000 prize fund.

The 2023 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss (FWGS) features $140,000 prize fund and runs concurrently. The top two players qualify for the 2024 Women's Candidates Tournament.

Previous Coverage:

• FIDE Grand Swiss 2023: Who Will Qualify For A Shot At World Title?