Giri's super solid choice of the Petroff Defense seems to be working out for Anish Giri. He's got no problems here early in the middlegame.
MVL looking to make Giri uncomfortable on the queenside. The knight is its only defender and that's under pressure.
MVL has to be careful here long term. That pawn gives him a space advantage, but it's also isolated so could be picked off later on.
Time for Giri to find a precise response here, as both of his pawns come under fire.
Giri does not find the best way of handling the threats, by stepping out his dark-squared bishop. But now he's offering up a pawn, giving MVL some hopes of pushing for the win from here.
Too ambitious! MVL's rook is going to be caught out of balance here...
This endgame is equal. But to be honest, MVL has a big practical edge here. It's a fast game, and it's easier play for MVL as he just has to try and push his passed pawns forward!
Giri going all-in here with his attacking prospects.
This is feeling like a coinflip. Mistakes from MVL will mean that Anish Giri will win via a crushing attack. And a mistake in attack by Anish will mean that MVL will win via queening one of his pawns!
Covering the big weakness on the light square next to his king.
MVL keeps pushing, correctly so! The queen invasion can be handled by covering the threat of mate with his own queen.
Giri takes a moment to stop the pawn's further advance.
MVL is locked in here. He spots that Giri now has to waste time handling the attack against his undefended bishop.
If MVL spots the geometry here, it's over! The bishop will be lost due to the threat of winning the queen!
It's over!
Nothing to do here for Anish Giri. He's still thinking, but there's just no way to save both the bishop and the queen. MVL on his way to win the first game of two!
MVL may have given Anish Giri a bit more than he needed here in practical terms. He still needs to be precise with where he goes with his king.
MVL finds the strongest option, moving forward bravely with his king. Sooner or later the checks will run out for Anish.
The checks have dried up, and with that Anish Giri resigns. The Dutch grandmaster is now very much on the back foot, and he will need to make something happen with the White pieces in game 2 coming up now, in order to take this match to the armaggedon stage!