Sinquefield Cup: Firouzja beats Ding, leads by a full point

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/27/2024 – Alireza Firouzja grabbed his third win of the Sinquefield Cup by beating world champion Ding Liren in Monday's seventh round. Firouzja now has a full-point lead over Fabiano Caruana with 2 rounds to go. One more game ended decisively in round 7, as Nodirbek Abdusattorov got the better of Wesley So with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Firouzja almost there

With 2 rounds to go at the Sinquefield Cup, Alireza Firouzja is now the clear favourite both to win the classical tournament and the Grand Chess Tour series. In round 7, Firouzja defeated world champion Ding Liren with white to get a 1-point advantage over Fabiano Caruana who stands in sole second place.

Firouzja and Ding entered a strategically rich position out of an Italian Opening. Ding found himself clearly down on the clock - he had 8 minutes left to Firouzja's 49 after move 25 - and failed to keep the balance once the battle turned tactical. It was a remarkable showing by Firouzja, who has so far gained 15.4 rating points in the event.

In the one other game that ended decisively on Monday, Nodirbek Abdusattorov grabbed his first win of the event playing white against Wesley So. Abdusattorov is now 1 of 5 players standing in shared third place with a 50-percent score.

The final 2 rounds will see sole leader Firouzja facing Ian Nepomniachtchi (with black) and R. Praggnanandhaa (with white).

Round 7 results

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Wesley So | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Firouzja 1 - 0 Ding

Analysis by André Schulz

Ding Liren

Ding Liren | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Expert analysis by GM Daniel King

Standings after round 7

All games

Links

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.