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Rd. 5 - GM Viswanathan Anand vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

The first game to finish today was slightly surprising. Anand came out with an interesting idea in the Najdorf that caught MVL somewhat off guard. However, it wasn’t enough; MVL played well and despite being down a pawn had really good chances to hold. In the final position, White had an extra pawn but the position seemed to be much closer to a draw than a win. It was still surprising that Anand didn’t try to convert the position or at least torture his opponent.

Rd. 5 - GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Wesley So

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

Carlsen was able to obtain some pressure from the opening. Despite being down a pawn, his dominant knight on d5 was too strong. The combination of the strong knight and the pawn expansion on the kingside made the Black king very uncomfortable. Wesley So committed a mistake even though it was hard to make moves. Carlsen missed several winning moves, but it didn’t matter; his position was good enough.

Rd. 5 - GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Alexander Grischuk

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

Next, Levon Aronian brought an interesting idea in the Panov Caro-Kann, which was reached in a weird move order. Unfortunately, Grischuk over the board outplayed his opponent. Grischuk had quite an advantage, but the position was very messy with the kings castled on opposite sides. He was unable to find the most precise variations, mainly because as usual he was in time pressure, and Aronian was able to get a draw.

Rd. 5 - GM Veselin Topalov vs. GM Fabiano Caruana

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

Topalov seemed dominant in Norway and again now in the Sinquefield Cup, but Caruana has put a stop to his streak. The American player thought he was in a little bit of trouble but was very surprised when the Bulgarian pushed his pawn to e6. After this, Caruana swiftly advanced on the kingside, winning material. Topalov had compensation but it was clearly insufficient, precise simplifications that ultimately ended Topalov’s game.

Rd. 4 - GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Viswanathan Anand

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

Caruana faced a nice novelty from Anand in his game, and the Indian player equalized effortlessly. However, some strange strategical decisions put his game in danger. Caruana pushed forward, but it was not enough. Black’s position was just strong enough to hold a blockade. Caruana went for some tactics, but it resulted in a dead drawn endgame.

Rd. 4 - GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

 

The MVL-Nakamura game was crazy from the get go. An exciting King’s Indian Saemisch variation was too messy for even computers to understand. Somehow Nakamura made a serious mistake, but MVL was unable to punish it as he failed to find the correct continuation. This allowed the American to consolidate his extra pawn, but it was meaningless in the endgame.

Rd. 4 - GM Alexander Grischuk vs. Veseslin Topalov

Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.
 

The first game of the day to finish, Grischuk-Topalov, was a Najdorf. Grischuk had a chance to get a slightly better game by interposing a subtle Rhe1 at some point which would have given him the same position that he got in the game but with a full extra tempo. Unfortunately, he missed his chance and the resulting endgame was a dead draw.

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