Fighting games, decisive results
For a second day in a row at the Sinquefield Cup, four out of the five games played in the Saint Louis Chess Club finished decisively, with all the results favouring the white player. On Friday, Leinier Dominguez scored his second win of the event — he also beat Swiercz in the first round — to join Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So in the lead of the standings. Meanwhile, Richard Rapport, Sam Shankland and Swiercz all obtained their first wins of the tournament.
He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.
There has been no lack of excitement at the eighth edition of the top US tournament. The fighting nature of the games has translated into entertaining broadcasts and a high percentage of decisive results (for an elite tournament), as 12 out of the 20 games played so far in the second-largest city of Missouri finished decisively.
With Rapport, Shankland and Swiercz all getting their first wins on Friday, 8-time Russian champion Peter Svidler was left at the bottom of the standings table. It must be noted that Svidler was booked as a commentator for this tournament, but a number of pandemic-related cancellations prompted the organizers to include him in the lineup. Nonetheless, we can expect the experienced grandmaster to recover from his subpar start in the second half of the event — the players will get a rest day on Sunday.

Not at all disheartened — multiple Russian champion and commentator extraordinaire Peter Svidler | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Caruana and So were sharing the lead with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave after three rounds. The US stars were paired up against each other and drew a tense 53-move encounter. MVL, in the meantime, was playing his pet Najdorf Defence with black against Dominguez, a strong theoretician in his own right.
Amid a sharp tactical battle, Dominguez went for it on the kingside on move 25.
Dominguez vs. Vachier-Lagrave
25.h5 Qe6 26.hxg6 hxg6 followed. Black could have tampered White’s attacking chances by trading queens with 26...Qxe4, although that would have left him with a rather tough defensive task ahead after 27.gxf7+ Rxf7 28.Bxe4.
After the text, Dominguez grabbed a pawn with 27.Qxf4 and eventually broke through. This was the position on the board a few moves later.
Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoir
The retreating 31.Qe1 was a precise final touch by Dominguez, planning to give a check from e6 — 31...Bf6 32.Rh6 Qb7 33.Qe6+, and MVL resigned with mate-in-4 on the board.
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 Nb6 14.Na5 Rc8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Qxa5 18.c4 Nf4 19.Bxf4 exf4 20.h4 Qa4 21.Bd3!N 21.b3 Qb4 22.Bd3 bxc4 23.Qe4 g6 24.Bxc4 Qc3 25.Rc1 21...bxc4 22.Qe4 g6 23.Bc2 Qd7 23...Qe8!= 24.h5!± Qe6 24...Bxg5? 25.hxg6 Rce8 26.Qd4+- 26.gxh7+ Kh8± 25.hxg6! hxg6 25...Qxe4 26.gxf7+ Kxf7 27.Bxe4 Rh8 26.Qxf4 26.Qd4 Qe5 26...Qe5 27.Qh4 Qg7 28.Rd2 Rc5 29.f4 f6? 29...Rb8 30.b3 cxb3 31.Bxb3 Ra5 30.Rdh2 fxg5 31.Qe1 Bf6 32.Rh6 Qb7 33.Qe6+ 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Dominguez Perez,L | 2758 | Vachier Lagrave,M | 2751 | 1–0 | 2021 | | GCT Sinquefield Cup 2021 | 4.5 |
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Game over — Leinier Dominguez vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Rapport also won by coordinating a kingside attack with the white pieces.
26.Ng4 followed, and Svidler’s king was visibly in trouble. Soon enough, more white pieces joined the fun.
The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.
It was the right time to create more attacking lines: 30.f5 Ra6 31.f6 cxd4 32.cxd4 Bf8 33.Qxg3 Nd2 34.Qh4 Ne4
Black is lost: 35.Nh6+ Bxh6 36.Qxh6 Nxf6 37.exf6 Qg3+ 38.Bg2, and resigns. Svidler can escape the immediate checkmate with 38...Qe3+ 39.Qxe3 Rxe3, but White is already a piece up — and Rxb7 is coming!
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1.g3 d5 2.Nf3 Nd7 3.d4 Nb6 4.a4 a5 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bg2 6...Bf5N 6...h6 7.0-0 Bf5 8.Nh4 Bh7 9.f4 e6 10.f5 Be7 11.Bh3 Qd7 12.Qd3 Qc6 7.Nh4 e6 8.Nxf5 exf5 9.Qd3 Qd7 10.0-0 Bb4 11.Nd1 0-0 12.f3 Rfe8 13.Nf2 Qe6 14.Bg5 Nc4 15.c3 Bf8 16.Rae1 Nxb2 17.Qc2 Nc4 18.e4 h6 18...Qc6 19.e5 Nd7 20.Bh3 h6 21.Bc1 Ndb6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.e5 Qe6 21.f4 h5 22.h3 g6 23.g4 hxg4 24.hxg4 fxg4 25.Qd1 g3 25...Be7= 26.Ng4± Bg7 27.Bh3 27.Ne3± 27...Qb6 27...Qe7!= 28.Qd3 c5 29.Rb1 Qc7 29...Qd8!= 30.f5+- Ra6 31.f6 cxd4 32.cxd4 Bf8 33.Qxg3 Nd2 34.Qh4! Ne4? 34...Nxb1 35.Nh6+ Bxh6 36.Qxh6 Rxf6 37.exf6 Qg3+ 38.Kh1 Qxh3+ 39.Qxh3 34...Nxf1± 35.Rxf1 Qc3 35.Nh6+ Bxh6 36.Qxh6 Nxf6 37.exf6 Qg3+ 38.Bg2! 38.Kh1 Rxf6 39.Rxf6 Re2= 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Rapport,R | 2763 | Svidler,P | 2714 | 1–0 | 2021 | | GCT Sinquefield Cup 2021 | 4.3 |
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A good-looking couple — Richard Rapport and Jovana Vojinović | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Shankland and Swiercz scored wins over markedly higher-rated opponents, with the former defeating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s Berlin Defence and the latter beating Jeffery Xiong out of a sharp middlegame struggle in a Najdorf. Swiercz finished off his opponent in an endgame with queen and rook against queen and bishop.
Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.
Swiercz found the forcing 52.Rxb2 cxb2 b4+
Both captures lead to losing pawn endgames for Black. Xiong resigned after 53...Kxb4 54.Qe7+.
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Qb6 9.a3 Nbd7 9...Qxb2? 10.Na4+- 10.Bf2 Qc7 10...Qxb2? 11.Na4+- 11.Bd3 b5 12.Qe2 Bb7 13.0-0-0 Be7 14.Kb1 14...g6N 14...Nc5= 14...Nc5 15.Rhe1 0-0 16.g4 d5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Nf5 exf5 20.Qxe7 Qxe7 21.Rxe7 Nxd3 22.Rxd3 15.Rhe1 Nc5 16.g4 g5 17.fxg5 hxg5 18.Bg3 0-0-0? 18...Nfd7= 19.Rf1!± Qb6 20.Nb3 Ncd7 20...Rhf8± 21.Bf2 21.a4!+- 21...Qc7 22.a4 bxa4 22...b4± 23.Nxa4+- Qc6 23...Rxh2 24.Bxa6 Ne5 24.Nc3 Rxh2 25.Na5 Qc7 25...Qc5 26.Nxb7 Kxb7 27.Bxa6+ 27.Qe3 Ra8 27...Ka8 28.Nb5 Qc6 29.Nd4! Qb6 30.Rd3! Nc5 30...Qxa6 31.Ra3+- 30...Rb8 31.Bb5 31.Ra3 Kb8 32.Nf3? 32.Nb3+- Rxf2 33.Rxf2 Ncxe4 34.Nd4! 32...Rxf2± 33.Qxf2 Nfxe4? 33...Kc7± 34.Qe3!+- 34.Qd4? Bf6-+ 34...Kc7 35.Nd4! Rb8 35...f5 36.Nb5+ 36.Bb5 f5 37.c4 37.gxf5?! e5+- 37...d5 38.gxf5 e5 39.Nc6 dxc4 40.Nxb8 Qxb5 41.Na6+! Nxa6 42.Rxa6 c3 43.Ra7+! 43.Qa7+ Kc8± 43...Kb8 44.Ra8+‼ Kxa8 45.Qxe4+ Ka7 46.Rf2 Bc5 47.Qd5! Kb6 48.Qe6+? 48.Rh2+- Qf1+ 49.Kc2 cxb2 50.Qe6+ 50.Kxb2 Bd4+ 51.Ka3 Qa1+ 52.Kb4 Qc3+ 53.Ka4 Qc6+ 54.Qxc6+ Kxc6+- 50.Rh6+ Kb5± 50...Kb5 51.Qb3+ 51.Kxb2 Bd4+ 52.Kc2 Kc5= 51...Bb4 52.Kxb2 Qxf5 53.Qd5+ Ka4 54.Qc4 48...Ka5!= 49.Rc2 Ba3? 49...Bd4= 50.b3+- Qc5 51.f6 Bb2 52.Rxb2 52.b4+ Qxb4 53.Qxe5+ Ka6 54.Qe6+ Ka5 55.Qe5+ Ka6 56.Qe2+ Ka5 57.Rxb2 52...cxb2 53.b4+! Kxb4 54.Qe7 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Swiercz,D | 2655 | Xiong,J | 2710 | 1–0 | 2021 | | GCT Sinquefield Cup 2021 | 4.1 |
Shankland,S | 2709 | Mamedyarov,S | 2782 | 1–0 | 2021 | | GCT Sinquefield Cup 2021 | 4.4 |
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Dariusz Swiercz | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Standings after round 4
All games
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- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
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