Russia's attack on Ukraine also affects Russian chess professionals. A number of players voiced criticism or signed an appeal for peace, and a number of top Grandmasters such as Nikita Vitiugov (pictured), Russian Champion of 2021, Alexandr Predke, Dmitry Andreikin and others, have left Russia to play under the FIDE flag, to change federations or to settle in other countries. | Photo: Nikita Vitiugov at the World Cup 2019 | Photo: FIDE
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
In the one game that had a decisive result in round 3 of the Berlin Grand Prix, 17-year-old Vincent Keymer defeated Daniil Dubov to catch Leinier Dominguez in the lead of pool B. In pool A, Grigoriy Oparin managed to get a clearly superior position against Hikaru Nakamura, but failed to finish the US grandmaster off in a tactical middlegame. | Photos: World Chess