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Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's resourcefulness helped him grab the sole lead after 3 rounds of rapid chess at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament. The French GM first escaped with a draw against Hikaru Nakamura and then scored back-to-back wins over R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov to end the day with a 5/6 score (wins grant 2 points in the rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour events).
In round 1, Nakamura failed to find the pawn break that would have allowed him to grab the initiative in a tricky position - MVL had just faltered with 34...Bh8
Despite having 1 minute and 13 seconds to MVL's 19 seconds, Nakamura quickly played 35.Rb3 instead of 35.h4, when 35...gxh4 is not playable due to 36.Bxh6 - otherwise, the engine's 35...h5 leaves White with a clear advantage after 36.Nxg5.
In the game, MVL placed his bishop back on g7, and a draw by repetition was soon agreed.
Against Pragg and Abdusattorov - two of the strongest juniors in the world - MVL prevailed after showcasing strong endgame technique.
Hikaru Nakamura taking a stroll during the first round | Photo: Austin Fuller
Sharing second place are Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian and Leinier Dominguez. The latter beat defending champion Fabiano Caruana in the second round - in an equal position, Caruana played a one-move blunder.
38.Rb1 simply leaves the e5-bishop undefended (38.Bb2, for example, keeps the balance). Dominguez played 38...Nxe5, which was followed by immediate resignation.
Before this game, Caruana had drawn with Wesley So, while in the third round of the day, he was defeated by Nakamura in a thrilling encounter. Caruana is now tied for last place with Pragg, but will get a chance to bounce back in style in Tuesday's first round, when he will play white against sole leader Vachier-Lagrave.
Leinier Dominguez | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Always in a good mood - Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
By Kostya Kavutskiy
