Grischuk leads; Kramnik chases - Day 1 Recap

The first day of the Play for Russia charity event left chess fans spoilt for choice, with firework matches like Grischuk v Riazantsev, to classic match ups like Kramnik v Svidler.

English commentary for the entire day's play was provided from Lichess' official channels on YouTube and Twitch, by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, and GM Evgenij Miroschnichenko. They will be commentating each day from the Lichess channels - starting from 12 UTC.

Grischuk, three times the World Blitz Champion, was undefeated on day 1, with wins against Riazantsev, Svidler, Karjakin and Kramnik - and draws against the rest of the field. Such a commanding performance gave Grischuk the lead on the first day, with 5.5 / 7.

But Kramnik, three times the World Champion, and despite retiring from professional chess in 2019 - is hot on Grischuk's heels, with four wins (including wins against podium-placer Tomashevsky, and one of the favourites, Ian Nepomniachtchi) and two draws. Kramnik drew laughs and smiles after announcing chess is "only a hobby" for him these days - with an excellent performance of 5 / 7 showing the truth of "once a World Champion, always a World Champion".

Two-time Russian champion, Evgeny Tomashevsky, is currently third on the podium with wins against Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ernesto Inarkiev, with only a loss to Kramnik. Tomashevsky enters the second day with a comfortable 4 / 7, giving him good chances of qualifying into the semi-finals.

Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Peter Svidler remain in contention for qualifying, with 3 / 7 each, whilst Ernesto Inarkiev and Alexander Riazantsev have some catching up to do with 2.5 / 7 and 2 / 7 respectively. Inarkiev, in particular must be feeling hard done by with an unfortunate loss on time against Kramnik, despite having what looked like a winning position.