2018 Candidates, Round 3: Kramnik Crushes Aronian, Leads
Monday, March 12, 2018 at 3:41PM
Dennis Monokroussos in 2018 Candidates, Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vladimir Kramnik

The hot start to the Candidates continued today with a couple of very exciting games. That obviously includes the day's one win, though it must be said that Levon Aronian played very badly. Aronian had White against Vladimir Kramnik, and instead of his usual d4/c4 repertoire he trotted out 1.e4. Kramnik went into a Berlin, of course, and while 4.d3 was a very normal response 7.h3 was not. Kramnik was even ready for that semi-lemon, almost immediately playing 7...Rg8!!, and Aronian was already on his own in a dubious position. Kramnik soon enjoyed a clearly better, and after 18.Qa4? f5! it was over. The only question was which beautiful finish Aronian would allow, and with Kramnik finding all the right moves (19...Rxg5, 24...Bd5, and 26...Qe2) the massacre ended after just 27 moves. It was a disastrous game for Aronian, who was one of the pre-tournament favorites, and except for his comfortable draw with Black in round 2 the tournament has been a disappointment. Still, there are 11 rounds to go, so there's still time for him to right the ship and contend for first.

The other crowd-pleaser involved the players who shared the lead with Kramnik coming into the day; namely, Fabiano Caruana and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov played a Najdorf, and Caruana went in for the Byrne Attack. The play was sharp and unclear throughout, and while Caruana had a significant advantage for a while it was never stable. Given his time trouble, it was hard to maintain the plus, and Mamedyarov fought his way back to objective equality and even tried for the win. Both players played perfectly from around move 35 on, both skating the precipice, and the game was agreed drawn after Mamedyarov's 49th move, with an equal king and pawn ending in sight.

The other two draws were less interesting. Wesley So went for safety first against Ding Liren, taking the white side of a Marshall Gambit. As often happens, White obtained a minuscule edge in the ending, but Black's bishop pair held the day, especially after one of the bishops was exchanged for a knight, producing a dead drawn opposite-colored bishop ending. Sergey Karjakin's game with Alexander Grischuk was only slightly more interesting, a Giuoco Piano with an early 5.Nc3. Maybe Karjakin was counting on the line's rarity to surprise Grischuk, but Black knew what to do and even enjoyed a tiny edge before the game petered out to a draw after 30 moves. (All four games, with my comments, can be replayed here.)

Kramnik is the sole leader heading into the first rest day, with Caruana and Mamedyarov half a point behind. Kramnik will have White against Caruana in round 4 (on Wednesday), so he'll have a chance to put some ground between him and one of his most dangerous rivals); while at least on paper Mamedyarov will have a great chance to boost his score and increase his confidence, as he'll have White against tailender So. Here are the full pairings:

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