8 April 2018
Fabiano Caruana Takes the Lead at Grenke Chess Classic
Nikita Vitiugov and Magnus Carlsen pursue him.
Photo by Georgios Souleidis
Round of 7 of Grenke Chess Classic was played in Baden-Baden. The world champion Magnus Carlsen defeated his relatively troublesome rival Arkadij Naiditsch, but still didn't manage to catch up with his future opponent in the world championship match: Fabiano Caruana bested Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The games Anand - Meier, Hou Yifan - Bluebaum, and Aronian - Vitiugov were drawn.
Standings after round 7:
1. Fabiano Caruana - 5
2-3. Nikita Vitiugov, Magnus Carlsen - 4.5
4-5. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Levon Aronian - 4
6. Matthias Bluebaum - 3.5
7-9. Arkadij Naiditsch, Viswanathan Anand, Hou Yifan - 2.5
10. Georg Meier - 2
Round 8 pairings:
Carlsen - Vitiugov, Naiditsch - Anand, Meier - Hou Yifan, Bluebaum - Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana - Aronian.
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