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Round 1 is over at the World Cup in Baku. A total of 33 matches (24 in the open and 9 in the women’s section) were decided in rapid and blitz tiebreaks. Now that the first round has been completed, all the players who received byes the rating favourites will join the fray on Wednesday. Magnus Carlsen will face Levan Pantsulaia (Georgia, 2564), while Ju Wenjun will face Eva Repkova (Slovakia, 2312). | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun scored a second consecutive upset win to go into round 3 of the Sharjah Masters sharing the lead with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (pictured). Ju got the better of third seed Vidit Gujrathi with the black pieces, while Pragg defeated Raunak Sadhwani with white. A total of 25 players stand a half point behind the leading duo, including top seeds Parham Maghsoodloo and Dommaraju Gukesh. | Photos: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shjmasters/">Tournament’s Facebook page</a>
The second edition of the Menorca Chess Open is taking place on April 11-16 at the Princesa Playa Hotel on the Balearic island of Menorca. Defending champion Dommaraju Gukesh returned to the paradisaic Spanish town, where he is joined by a number of formidable players i.e. Hans Niemann (pictured), Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev, among others. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
With close to 250 games being played daily, the European Championship is one of the strongest opens in the chess calendar. Moreover, the players are fighting for an entrance to the World Championship cycle via the World Cup, which makes for very competitive struggles. Karsten Müller is keeping an eye on the games, and has sent us many notable endgames with instructive analyses. Replay here his seven of his finds! | Pictured: Sabino Brunello | Photo: European Chess Union