Vladimir Putin frequently uses sports stars to promote his propaganda. But Russian chess grandmaster Daniil Dubov is standing up to the Russian leader and the war in Ukraine. In an interview, the 25-year-old explains why he is willing to take that risk.
All results in round 6 of the Berlin Grand Prix favoured Hikaru Nakamura, as he won pool A and secured a spot in the Candidates Tournament after beating Andrey Esipenko with the black pieces. The four players who could have leapfrogged the US grandmaster in the overall standings of the series had they also reached the semis were knocked out on Monday i.e. Levon Aronian (also from pool A), Leinier Dominguez, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri. The one other player who made it to semis was Amin Tabatabaei, who got a convincing victory over Giri to win pool D. | Photos: World Chess
Four players representing the United States scored full points in round 5 of the Berlin Grand Prix. Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura both won and are now sharing the lead in pool A, much like Wesley So and Sam Shankland, who are now co-leaders in pool C. Given round-5’s results, we are likely to see tiebreaks after Monday’s final round, as none of the four groups has a sole leader at the moment. | Photos: World Chess
Two quiet rounds were followed by a day full of excitement at the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix. Five games finished decisively, and remarkably three of the winners beat the players who had defeated them in the first round of the event i.e. Hikaru Nakamura beat Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Alexandr Predke, and Amin Tabatabaei beat Nikita Vitiugov. Grigoriy Oparin and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also scored full points, leaving the field wide open with two rounds to go. | Photos: World Chess