As a commentator, you are always worried that three games a day will not provide you with enough interesting variations to analyse or, even worse, that a couple of games will be drawn quickly. But perhaps that anxiety is unjustified. It almost seems as if the players are aware of this added responsibility and do their utmost to provide the spectators with some entertainment. Last year's tournament, as well as the first round of this year's event, seems to indicate this at least. Maybe we have to wait a couple of rounds before drawing any firm conclusions.
The game between Jon Ludvig Hammer and Jonny Hector was theoretically interesting. Hector played the somewhat odd 6...Na6 in a Slav opening, but Hammer was well prepared and came up with an interesting novelty in the twelfth move (12.e4). Black was forced to accept the pawn sacrifice and in return White obtained a huge lead in development. Even after the game, it looks quite tricky to find a way for Black to survive. In practice Hector didn't get any chances and quickly ended up in a hopeless position. The onus is now on the black players to find a suitable answer to Hammer's pawn sacrifice.
Anish Giri easily equalized with the black pieces against Pia Cramling. Perhaps it was a bit too easy because in the fifteenth move he played carelessly and was immediately punished when Cramling won a pawn by taking on h7. It wasn't the capture on h7 that Giri had missed, but rather that White after 16.Bxh7+ Kxh7 17.Rxd8 Nxf3+ can play the strong 18.Qxf3!. He obtained some compensation with his bishop pair and after the strong 24...b5 it became apparent that he was in no real danger. In fact, it was White who at this stage had the more difficult game and in time pressure, Cramling did not find the best defense and lost quickly. One possible improvement might be 32.Nc5 to force an exchange of Black's dark-squared bishop when taking back the pawn. With opposite-coloured bishops, it is difficult to imagine anything else than a draw.
The game between Nils Grandelius and Tiger Hillarp Persson ended up in something similar to the Tarrasch variation in the Queen's Gambit with White getting Qd1-c2 for free. Whether it actually mattered is another question and in the game he was later forced to play the queen to e2. The game was evenly balanced until Grandelius played poorly with 25.Rd1, allowing Hillarp to play the knight to c3 and exchange it for White's light-squared bishop. After this, Black had a superior position but he then played the rash 32...e5. Already earlier, 31...Kf7 seemed a bit strange and should perhaps have been replaced with 31...Qa8. It is difficult to see how White can save the e-pawn after this (e6-e5 is always a threat).
In the game, Hillarp kept the pressure but some smart maneouvring (Ne1-d3-e5) shortly after the time trouble allowed Grandelius to force a draw.