Eric Hansen at the Qatar Masters Open 2014

Kramnik's opponent, GM Stelios Halkias, managed to obtain a draw in the first round.

Eric Hansen won his first round at the Qatar Masters Open, Nov. 25 - Dec. 5.

Eric ranks 69th in what is by one measure the strongest Open event ever, with top seeds: Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren, Pentala Harikrishna, Baadur Jobova and more well over 2700.

They will be fighting for a $25 000 first prize ($5 000 for the best woman).

You can watch the games with live commentary from GMs Danny King and Simon Williams here:

http://www.qatarmastersopen.com/video-stream/

or just the games here:

http://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2014-qatar 

And as always, results are available on Chess-Results