Chess 9LX: Aronian and Sevian share the lead

By IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. The event features Chess 960 (aka Fischer Random), a chess variant where the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the first rank. The tournament format is a 10-player round-robin, with a time control of 20 minutes per side plus a 5-second increment added every move.

Round 4

The first round of the day saw Kasparov close to defeating Aronian, but failing to convert a knight endgame which eventually ended in a draw. In the meantime, Sevian started off strong against So, winning a pawn and obtaining a decisive advantage right out of the opening before finishing things off in style.

Sevian - So: 33.Qf6+! forced resignation as White mates after 33...Nxf6 34.Rxd8+ (and h8=Q is coming next)

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A surprise leader? According to Shankland, Sevian “plays the most Fischer Random, he's really good at it” | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Also winning in nice fashion was Shankland, who found a powerful sacrifice to launch an irresistible attack against Dominguez.

Shankland - Dominguez: 22.Rxh7! leads to a quick finish after 22...Kxh7 23.Qh1+ (with Nf6 to come)

Shankland would go on to defeat Nakamura in Round 6, finishing the day on +1 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 5

In the next round Kasparov would lose his first game of the event, after flagging in a worse position against Jeffery Xiong. This gave Sevian the chance to get ahead, as he drew with Black against Nakamura, while Aronian managed to defeat Dominguez to join Sevian in the lead with 3½/5 points.

An excellent 2½/3 on the day for Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 6

The final round of the day saw five decisive games, with Sevian winning a close pawn race in the endgame against Robson to continue his surge, while Aronian risked it all against Xiong with a creative piece sacrifice, which ended up paying off in victory for Levon.

Aronian - Xiong: 18.Ngf5!? was not loved by the engines, but it posed severe practical problems for Black

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Other results saw Shankland defeating Nakamura, So winning against Dominguez, and Caruana managing to flip the tables in the endgame after getting a much worse position against Kasparov.

After a brilliant day 1, Garry Kasparov failed to capitalize on his chances on Saturday | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 6

All games

Links

• Saint Louis Chess Club
• Chess 9LX: Kasparov amid stellar lineup in Saint Louis
• Caruana beats Firouzja in Armageddon, wins Champions Showdown (2022)
• Leinier Dominguez wins Champions Showdown in Saint Louis (2021)
• Chess 9LX: Carlsen and Nakamura share first place (2020)
• Caruana beats Kasparov with a day to spare (2019)