13th European Championship has started in Plovdiv

This event, with 300 players, 15 of whom are rated above 2700, is taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from March 20th to 31st, 2012. The zero tolerance rule is in force and draw offers are forbidden before move 40. In round one our attention was focussed on two young stars, top seed Fabiano Caruana, 19, and fourth seed Anish Giri, two years his junior. Annotations by GM Alejandro Ramirez.