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The one decisive game of the Sinquefield Cup so far saw Alireza Firouzja collecting a crucial victory over Fabiano Caruana on Monday. If the youngster ends up winning the event, he will repeat his success from 2022, when he grabbed back-to-back tournament victories in Saint Louis to also secure first place in the Grand Chess Tour overall standings.
In the second round, Firouzja played the Berlin Defence against the ever-dangerous Nodirbek Abdusattorov and safely held his young colleague to a draw after 46 moves. In round 3, Firouzja will play white against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in an all-French confrontation.
As noted by MVL during his interview with Cristian Chirila, he will be looking to finally break his streak of draws in classical chess. He has drawn his previous 21 games, as his latest decisive result was seen on March 24, when MVL beat Felix Blohberger with the white pieces.
MVL played the Italian Opening against Praggnanandhaa on Tuesday, much like Anish Giri did in his game against world champion Ding Liren. For a second day in a row, Ding found a nice way to force a draw in the early middlegame - he had the black pieces this time around.
17...Qxh4 draws by force since after 18.Nxh4 Nxf2 (attacking the queen) 19.Qf3 there is nothing White can do to escape the double checks with the knight and the bishop from a7.
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19...Nh3+ 20.Kh1 Nf2+ 21.Kg1 Nh3+ Draw.
Anish Giri sharing a laugh with Ding Liren right after the draw was signed in their round-2 encounter | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The final position in Giri v. Ding with the kings in the centre | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The game that was closest to ending decisively was the hard-fought battle between D Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
This position was reached right after the queens had been exchanged on d4. White's majority on the kingside surely looks more dangerous than Black's majority on the queenside - at least for the time being.
Later on, Gukesh managed to convert his positional edge into a material advantage, as he gained a pawn on move 38.
After 38.Nxf7+ Black cannot play 38...Kxf7, since 39.Rxd7+ Kf8 40.f5 is clearly winning for White. Thus, Nepo went for 38...Nc5 and there followed 39.Nd6 a4 40.Ke3 b3 41.axb3 axb3
Attack & Master Advanced Tactics and Calculations like a Super Grandmaster
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As it turned out, the passer on the b-file gave Black enough counterplay to hold the draw. It was a strong showing of defensive technique by Nepo - who ended the game with a 40-minute advantage over his opponent on the clock!
Fully focused - Dommaraju Gukesh | Photo: Lennart Ootes
