The first game between the two young stars ended in a draw. However just before the end Sergey Karjakin was winning. On move 40 he dropped the full point in zeitnot, missing the thematic ...Rc1 with clear win to follow. The opening was interesting since the two followed the famous Berlin Defence games of Kasparov and Kramnik.

This is not the right opening for young people, said Evgeny Sveshnikov (left in the picture), who was doing commentary for the local audience together with the former junior world champion Werner Hug (right). Maybe one could set a minimum age at which this line may be played, just as the Dannemann sets a minimum of 21 years for people visiting the site (because of the tobacco – not what you think!)

Alexandra Kosteniuk seemed a bit nervous during the first game. Observant visitors counted 96 twitches with the foot. But perhaps it was the result of her skiing trip in the Swiss Alps the day before. We too had the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular viiew of the countryside surrounding Ascona.

A view of the lake in Ascona

Players Hotel Eden Roc in Ascona

A view from the hotel

A view of Ascona on a Sunday mornin

Ben Bartels of ChessBase operating the live coverage of the event, with Werner Hug. All of the above pictures were supplied by Ben.

André Schulz