The first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess at Moscow in Russia is over, and Ian Nepomniachtchi has taken a significant step toward trying to become the challenger for next year’s World Chess Championship match. But there is a long way to go before Nepomniachtchi, or someone else, will earn the right to play for the title. The match was decided by two rapid tie-breaker games after the regular games were both drawn. The first symbolic move in the game A. Grischuk - I. Nepomniachtchi was made by Alexander Ovechkin, a Russian professional hockey player, a three-time winner of the World Championship as a member of the Russian national team, ice hockey winger of the Washington Capitals, the 2018 Stanley Cup owner. Photo: World Chess

Tie-breaker games will be necessary to decide the winner of the Moscow Grand Prix after Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk, two Russians, agreed to a swift draw Tuesday in Game 2 of the final. The Grand Prix is using a new knockout format of two game mini-matches at classical, or slow, time controls, followed by tie-breaker games at progressively faster time controls if the regulation part of the match ends in a tie. The Moscow Grand Prix, which is being held at the Central Chess Players’ House, is the first in a series of four tournaments to select two players for next year’s Candidates tournament. The winner of that tournament will become the challenger for the 2020 World Championship match to be held in November. Photo: World Chess

Game 1 of the final of the FIDE Moscow Grand Prix ended in a draw after 38 moves as neither Alexander Grischuk nor Ian Nepomniachtchi, who are both Russian, could make any appreciable headway against the other. The first symbolic move in the game was made by a young chess player Albina Yismailova in presence of FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. Despite playing White, Grischuk found himself under pressure almost from the beginning as he was surprised by the preparation of Nepomniachtchi. While Grischuk took large amounts of time to find the best moves, Nepomniachtchi blitzed through the opening. Photo: World Chess

Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia will face his compatriot, Alexander Grischuk, in the final of the Moscow Grand Prix starting on Monday. Getting there was not easy. One day after Grischuk qualified for the final by beating Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the regulation portion of their match, Nepomniachtchi needed to overcome Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland in tie-breaker games to advance. It turned out to be the longest tie-breaker of the tournament. Both rapid games ended in draws, necessitating two more games at a faster time control of 10 minutes per player, with 10 seconds added to the time after each move. After the first game in the faster format ended in a draw, Nepomniachtchi finally prevailed in the second game, clinching the match. Photo: World Chess

Alexander Grischuk of Russia beat Hikaru Nakamura of the United States on Friday to earn a place in the final of the Moscow Grand Prix. He will have to wait until Saturday to find out who his opponent is in the final as the other semi-final – between Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia – ended in a tie after both regulation games were drawn. Wojtaszek and Nepomniachtchi will have to play tie-breakers on saturday. Both semifinals started with draws, so a win on Friday could clinch either match. Grischuk, who had White, was able to take advantage. Photo: World Chess.

Nerves were on display on Thursday in the first games of the semifinals of the Moscow Grand Prix – the players in both games had winning chances when the games were stopped by mutual agreement. The first game to finish on Thursday was between Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland. Arguably, that draw was the more curious of the two. The other game featured Hikaru Nakamura of the United States and Alexander Grischuk of Russia. The opening was a Giuoco Piano, which is Italian for “quiet game.” The opening usually features a lot of quiet maneuvering, but it can become very tactical if the center opens. Photo: World Chess

Three semifinalists were decided on Wednesday in the Moscow Grand Prix as Hikaru Nakamura of the United States and Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk, both of Russia, advanced from the quarterfinals after prevailing in rapid tie-breaker games. They join Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland who won his quarterfinal match on Tuesday. In the semi-final Nakamura will face Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi will face Wojtaszek on Thursday. The format will be the same. First two classical games, in case of a tie then they will have to play tie-breakers in faster time control. Photo: Niki Riga/World Chess

Radoslaw Wojtaszek is the first player to advance to the semifinals of the Moscow Grand Prix after he beat Peter Svidler on Tuesday. The other semifinalists will be decided on Wednesday in playoffs as the rest of the quarterfinal matches ended in ties after all the games were drawn. All the games on the first day of the quarterfinals on Monday were drawn, so any victory Tuesday would clinch a match. Wojtaszek, who is from Poland, was the only player to break through against Peter Svidler who is from Russia. Photo: World Chess

The second round of the Moscow Grand Prix began with four draws on Monday, though there were several pitched battles. Since the Grand Prix is using a knockout format, all competitors will face each other on Tuesday in the second half of their mini-matches. If those games end in draws, then the players will proceed to faster tie-breaker games on Wednesday to decide who advances to the semifinals of the tournament. One feature of the quarterfinals of the Moscow Grand Prix is that there are four Russian players facing two American players, one from China and one from Poland. It has the same format, inadvertently, as the Russia vs. the World match in 2002 (and before that, the U.S.S.R. vs. the World matches in 1970 and 1984). Photo: World Chess

Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So, the two Americans, beat Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, respectively, in two-game rapid playoffs after their first-round matches had been tied in regulation. In both playoffs, Nakamura and So had White in the first games and won and then drew the second games in order to advance. They now join the other six players who had already qualified for the second round in mini-matches that will begin on Monday. The Quarter-finals match up will be four Russians will be facing the rest of the world to secure a spot for each of themselves at the Semi-finals. Photo: World Chess

At the conclusion of round 1.1 in FIDE Grand Prix 2019 Moscow, three players were on the brink of elimination. They are Mamedyarov, Aronian and So. They were in a must win situation to head for Playoffs. Two of them could not surive - Mamedyarov and Aronian. Both of them lost their round 1.2 game which caused elimination. However So bounced back and defeated Duda to head for Playoffs. Dubov played an impressive attacking game to knock Giri out of the tournament. Aronian got eliminated by Nepo after the former blundered a pawn in the opening. Vitiugov and Jakovenko failed to score in a must-score game to get eliminated from the tournament. Photo: World Chess

The Grand Prix series 2019 which will determine two spots in the Candidates 2020, has revamped its format. Instead of the round robin or swiss format which it followed in the last few years, we are witnessing a World Cup like knock out event. As there are world class players taking part, this knock-out event is going to attract a lot of eyeballs. The first leg of the Grand Prix began in Moscow on 17th of May. Out of the 8 games that were played, three were decisive. Both the Polish players won their games with Duda getting the better of So, and Wojtaszek beating Mamedyarov. The other decisive game was Nepomniachtchi scoring a win against Aronian. So, Shakh and Lev had their task cut out on day two to win at all costs in order to avoid being knocked out.