Sinquefield Cup: Nepo on the attack, joins Firouzja in the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/22/2024 – All five games in round 3 of the Sinquefield Cup could have easily finished decisively. Three players missed winning chances, though, while Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana did make the most of their opportunities and scored full points. With his win over Anish Giri, Nepo joined Alireza Firouzja in the lead. Caruana, on his part, beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov and now has a 50-percent score. | Photo: Crystal Fuller
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Nepo and Caruana score, missed chances galore

The third round of the Sinquefield Cup featured 5 exciting encounters, but only 2 of them ended decisively. Theoretical battles in the opening, quick kingside attacks and complex technical battles were all seen on Wednesday at the Saint Louis Chess Club.

In the end, the winners of the day were Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana. Nepo played a risky line out of a Nimzo-Indian Defence and created all kinds of tactical problems for Anish Giri, who eventually erred amid a sharp struggle. Caruana, meanwhile, was first on the defensive and then outplayed Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a simplified - yet complicated - position with a queen, a rook and a knight per side.

Nepo thus joined Alireza Firouzja in the lead. Firouzja got the white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and saw MVL agreeing to a draw (by threefold repetition) from a superior position - the cold-blooded engines, in fact, evaluate it as clearly winning.

MVL was not the only player to miss a golden chance in round 3. Ding Liren (against Wesley So) and R Praggnanandhaa (against D Gukesh) failed to find accurate continuations from superior positions - Ding in the middlegame and Pragg in the endgame.

The fourth round will see co-leaders Nepo and Firouzja both playing with the black pieces, against So and Gukesh, respectively.

Round 3 results

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Nepo goes for it, quickly

Anish Giri

Anish Giri looking at his position from a distance | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Caruana emerges victorious

Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Fabiano Caruana v. Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Ding chooses the wrong way to capture

Ding Liren

Ding Liren, the current world chess champion | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Pragg's missed chance

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Dommaraju Gukesh

Indian prodigies Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 3

All games

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.