Sinquefield Cup: Nepo collapses in the opening

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/26/2024 – Alireza Firouzja is still the sole leader after round 6 of the Sinquefield Cup. Sharing second place are Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana, as the latter joined his compatriot in the chasing pack after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi with black on Sunday. Caruana took advantage of a perplexing mistake by Nepo, who played a game-losing blunder on move 18 out of a Sicilian Dragon. All remaining games finished drawn, though D. Gukesh and especially Anish Giri were close to getting full points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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A Dragon slip-up

Earlier this year, Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi played one of the most dramatic and consequential chess games of the current World Championship cycle. In the final round of the Candidates, Caruana failed to convert his advantage into the win that would have gained him the right to face D. Gukesh in a rapid tiebreaker to decide the winner of the all-important event - the game lasted 109 moves. Once the draw had been agreed, Nepo told Caruana, "I'm very sorry", to which the American replied, "My fault".

Now, in round 6 of the Sinquefield Cup, Nepo made a baffling mistake out of a Sicilian Dragon, allowing Caruana to play a couple of good-looking sacrifices to get a devastating attack. Nepo could not believe what he had just done, as demonstrated by his gestures in the clip shared by Olimpiu Di Luppi on X.

Only 7 moves after the blunder, Nepo resigned the game. This was Caruana's second win of the event. The US star is now sharing second place with Wesley So, a half point behind sole leader Alireza Firouzja, who safely held So to a draw with the black pieces on Sunday.

Much later in the day, Anish Giri and Gukesh kept trying to convert advantages into wins in their games against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave respectively. In the end, both encounters finished drawn.

There are 3 more rounds to go in the all-play-all tournament. Firouzja will play white against world champion Ding Liren - who has so far drawn all his games - in Monday's seventh round.

Round 6 results

Wesley So

Wesley So happily posing for photos with chess fans on a beautiful sunny day in Saint Louis | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nepomniachtchi 0 - 1 Caruana

Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi

At this point, Fabiano Caruana had it all figured out - Ian Nepomniachtchi is probably trying to deal with negative emotions before the game inevitably ends with a win for his opponent | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Gukesh ½ - ½ Vachier-Lagrave

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Dommaraju Gukesh

Dommaraju Gukesh on his way to the Saint Louis Chess Club next to second Grzegorz Gajewski | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Expert analysis by GM Daniel King

Expert analysis by IM Robert Ris

Standings after round 6

All games

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Topics: Fabiano Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2024
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.
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Sinquefield Cup: Nepo on the attack, joins Firouzja in the lead

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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See also

Sinquefield Cup: Five draws, Gukesh puts pressure on Nepo

8/21/2024 – All five games ended drawn in round 2 of the Sinquefield Cup, leaving Alireza Firouzja as the sole leader in the standings. The tournament leader, who is also in first place in the Grand Chess Tour standings, safely held Nodirbek Abdusattorov to a draw with the black pieces. The most exciting encounter of the day saw D Gukesh getting the upper hand against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but failing to convert his extra pawn into a win in a technical endgame. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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MiddleGame 08594EC Springing pawns

A pawn move can change the character of the whole position. Jussupow-Anand (Linares 1991) is all about such powerful pawn moves.

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Steven E DuCharm Steven E DuCharm 8/27/2024 10:15
If it's broke fix it
arzi arzi 8/27/2024 11:22
A small detail about the Sinquefield Cup. Firouzja's winning games have all been Giuoco Piano openings, with both colors. He is really good at this opening or this opening suits him better than others. Should other players consider using a different opening against Firouzja?
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 8/27/2024 08:22
Zoran Petronijevic and Wolfram Schoen have found a mistake in my analysis of Gukesh vs MVL. To quote Wolfram:
"The rook + knight vs. rook stuff in the 42.a6 line seems to be very tricky.
Very late in your main line SF 16.1 says 62.Nh3+ (instead of 62.Rxe5+) is winning.
However 53...Rc2 (instead of 53...Rb3) might be an improvement for Black. SF 16.1 says that White is (slightly) better, but he has some resources." Zoran confirms that 53...Rc2 indeed does draw.
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