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It's halftime at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis! In the open championship the man to beat right now is none of the Elo favourites, but Sam Shankland. The 26-year-old defeated Varuzhan Akobian in yesterday's sixth round, with the black pieces.
Shankland chose to play in a classical version of the Nimzo-Indian defence with an early d5, followed by dxc4, and combined with the manoeuvre b6 and Ba6, which Garry Kasparov first essayed 20 years ago in a rapid match against Vladimir Kramnik. In recent years, the line has been used sporadically, although notably, Anand played it at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Riyadh...against Akobian! This game must have caught Sam Shankland's eye as he prepared for Monday's game.
In contrast to predecessors, Shankland did not exchange queens here with 10...Qc6 the ladies, but prefered kingside prophylaxis: 10...h6, and Black received a very comfortable game.
A lifetime repertoire: Play the Nimzo Indian
This DVD provides everything you need to know to be able to play one of the most classical openings with Black, the Nimzo-Indian, arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4. Nearly every World Championship and top tournament features the Nimzo-Indian.
Shankland talking to Maurice Ashley on the live webcast | CCSCSL on YouTube
Sam Shankland, who's fighting a cold, was happy with his result but very critical about his chess. "If I play the rest of the tournament as today I don't think I will stay at the top for very long. I mean I think this game was absolutely disgraceful".
Trying to stay objective about his play and focused on the upcoming games, Shankland was nevertheless being unnecessarily hard on himself. As Maurice pointed out besides not seeing ...Rxf7 it was a pretty good game, which is obviously true.
Fabiano is back in the hunt and showed great form with a nice victory in his beloved Petroff Defence against Ray Robson. Caruana showed superb understanding and preparation in the early stages of the game. Throughout the opening he could be seen strolling around the playing hall, checking out the other boards and enjoying a smoothie while seemingly very comfortable and relaxed.
Caruana going for a walk in round four | Photo: Austin Fuller
A World champion's guide to the Petroff
The great popularity of the Petroff Defence at the highest level has attracted general attention as strong players employ this opening with great success and with both colours. Unfortunately, the opinion of the Petroff as a sterile drawish opening seems to be firmly implanted in many minds. The author tries to dispel these myths and examines the most popular lines and provides a large number of ideas that will enable you to play Petroff successfully, with either colour.
Robson has lost three of his last four games. Caruana has white against Akobian next.
Robson also lost with white to Caruana in the 2017 US Championship | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Nakamura missed a good opportunity to catch up, not showing his best by, in his words, "missing some tactics somehow" in his game with Jeffery Xiong.
In the Vienna game, White was doing well. In diagrammed position, Nakamura gave up the advantage with 19.Rxb4.
Old fashioned? Certainly! Infrequent ? Definitely! Underestimated ? Without doubt! Dangerous? You must draw your own conclusions...... The Vienna Game deserves a place in the repertoire of all players. With 2 Nc3 White prevents the freeing thrust ...d7-d5 and keeps open the option of f2-f4, hoping to transpose to a superior King’s Gambit For the Grandmaster, the Vienna can be used as a surprise weapon.
After, for instance, 19.Nb3 Bxb7 20.Bxb7 Nc6 21.Nxa5 Nxa5 White would stand better.
"Somehow I just missed this move...it skipped my mind somehow — I should see that move", Nakamura admitted after the game.
Wesley So could not beat Zviad Izoria's unusual opening (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 !?). The games Zherebukh vs Lendermann and Onischuk vs Liang also ended in draws.
Today is a rest day, in the upcoming round on Wednesday, Sam Shankland will have the white pieces and facing the defending US Champion Wesley So. That should be an exciting game as So looks to add to his 2-0 lifetime record against the tournament leader.
Setting the pace on the women's side is 15-year-old Annie Wang. Yesterday she defeated Dorsa Derakshani, celebrating her fourth full point win in the tournament. Nazi Paikidze kept up with Wang for a while but in round six she dropped half a point to Maggie Feng. In third place is Irina Krush, who won with black against Anna Zatonskih, her former long-time rival in the fight for the title. Tatev Abrahamyan won against Akshita Gorti, Anna Sharevich prevailed over Sabina Foisor and Jennifer Yu scored a full point against Rusudan Goletiani.
Annie Wang is in the clear lead | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Maurice Ashley | CCSCSL on YouTube
Arne Bracker contributed to this report
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
