, author: Plackhin A.

Nepomniaschiy and Caruana topped the table of the candidates' tournament

The Russian and American will play each other in the second round.

The games of the 1st round of the Madrid Candidates Chess Tournament were held.

China's Ding Lizhen lost to Russia's Jan Nepomnyashchy, and two American grandmasters dueled with Fabiano Caruana over Hikaru Nakamura.

Two more games ended in a draw: Polish player Jan Krzysztof Duda and Hungarian Richard Rapport shared points, while Azerbaijan's Teymur Radzhabov and France's Alireza Firuza tied.

The 2nd round games will be played on June 18 with Nepomniaschy and Caruana playing each other.

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