Four of the five games ended decisively in round two of the Sinquefield Cup, and all four victories were scored by the players with the white pieces. Fabiano Caruana had entered Tuesday as the sole leader after being the only player to win in the opening round, but his advantage at the top of the standings disappeared by the end of the day.
Caruana drew with black against Anish Giri in the only game that finished peacefully. Giri obtained a slight edge at one point, but Caruana held without major difficulty.
Elsewhere, Levon Aronian defeated Vincent Keymer, Wesley So beat Jorden van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu overcame Javokhir Sindarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Sam Sevian.
The four winners joined Caruana in a five-way tie for first place on 1½/2. Giri is the only player with an even score, on 1/2, while Van Foreest stands alone at the bottom after losing both of his first two games - the Dutch grandmaster started the tournament with two consecutive games with the black pieces.
Round 2 results
Top seed Fabiano Caruana is one of the five co-leaders in Saint Louis | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The most eventful encounter of the round was Aronian's victory over Keymer, as the US representative eventually won after surviving what had become a lost position. The players began with an English Opening and reached a major-piece ending in which both sides had a queen and a rook.
Keymer was a pawn down, but this was more than compensated for by the activity of his pieces and the relative vulnerability of the white king.
The German star continued to improve his position and eventually obtained a winning advantage, despite his material deficit.
Keymer's critical mistake came with 52...Qc4+??
Instead, 52...Rc1 was winning: after 53.Rxf7+ Kg8 54.Rf4 Black has 54...Qd5+ 55.Kb2 Rc2+, winning the white queen.
Following the move played in the game, however, 53.Ka3 Qe3+ 54.Ka4 left Black without a way to maintain a winning attack.
Keymer could still have secured a draw by repeating moves, but he chose to continue and soon faltered again. Aronian took advantage with a small tactical combination that won him a pawn and led to a pure queen ending with an extra pawn.
Aronian then converted the advantage to complete a memorable 91-move victory, in what was inevitably a difficult loss for Keymer after having been so close to winning.
Levon Aronian's fighting spirit allowed him to first survive a lost position and then grab a full point against Vincent Keymer | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Praggnanandhaa and Sindarov played the longest game of the round (in moves), with the Indian grandmaster eventually prevailing after 95 moves. The result continued a notable reversal in their recent head-to-head record.
Sindarov had defeated Pragg in both of their encounters at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Since then, however, Pragg has won their classical games at the Super Chess Classic in Romania and now at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis.
Their game started with a Queen's Gambit Declined and developed into a complicated position. By move 31, each player still had a rook, a knight and seven pawns.
Engines gave White a positional edge, but making tangible progress was by no means straightforward. Pragg eventually managed to win a pawn and reached a technical endgame with rook, knight and two pawns against rook, knight and one pawn.
Sindarov's remaining pawn was a passed pawn on the kingside, while Pragg had connected passers on the queenside. Engines still assessed the position as equal, although Black's defensive task was very difficult in practical play.
Sindarov eventually went wrong with 82...Ne3?!, choosing active play rather than keeping closer watch over White's queenside pawns.
The decision proved costly, as Pragg's connected passers turned out to be faster than Sindarov's passed f-pawn.
Two of the strongest young players in the world - Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Vachier-Lagrave collected his first win of the event by defeating Sevian, the rating underdog in the field. Sevian was added to the tournament after Alireza Firouzja withdrew from the Grand Chess Tour to play in the Esports World Cup.
MVL departed from his usual 1.e4 and began instead with 1.c4. He later explained that many 1.e4 variations can lead to forcing sequences and early simplifications, whereas he wanted to create winning chances. His tournament situation makes such an approach understandable: Vachier-Lagrave needs to win the Sinquefield Cup, as well as have other results go his way, to qualify for the Grand Chess Tour Finals.
A complex middlegame followed, with both players making inaccuracies at different stages. The decisive moment came when Sevian played 32...Rd8?, overlooking a key tactical idea.
The French grandmaster had no trouble finding 33.Ra8!. After 33...Rxe8 34.Qd5+ Qf7 35.Qxa8, Vachier-Lagrave emerged with an extra exchange.
Black still retained some defensive chances despite the material deficit, but Sevian did not find the most accurate continuation. MVL maintained control of the position and gradually consolidated his advantage, with Sevian resigning after move 44.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave facing Sam Sevian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
So inflicted a second consecutive defeat on Van Foreest after the Dutchman had reached an objectively drawn rook ending. After 44.Rxd4, White had two pawns against Black's one, but the position remained defensible with accurate play.
Van Foreest's decisive mistake came shortly after with 48...Rc1??
Black instead needed to play 48...Kf6 or 48...Kf7, keeping the rook on the h-file. That setup would have allowed him to support the advance of his h-pawn beyond the fifth rank, where White's rook was positioned.
Following the text move, So was able to start pushing his own passed pawn. At the same time, Van Foreest could no longer generate sufficient counterplay with his passer on the h-file, and the balance of the rook ending shifted decisively in White's favour.
So handled the technical phase accurately from that point onwards.
Wesley So will face Fabiano Caruana in a key clash on Wednesday | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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