The first day of the FIDE Candidates Matches 2011 saw all games drawn.

Alexander Grischuk held Levon Aronian after over 6 and a half hours play for much of which his position looked very bad indeed.

Teimour Radjabov and Vladimir Kramnik drew a Queen's Gambit Lasker Defence after just two hours. Two hours later Boris Gelfand had completely equalised against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov just before first time control, 10 minutes later Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov repeated just after first time control, according to chess.co.uk

The return match between Aronian and Grischuk is scheduled for May 6.

The winner of the Candidates Matches 2011 will qualify to challenge the World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand in a 12-game match during the first half of 2012.