2017 Cup Chronicle Issue 3

Today was the most peaceful round so far with all draws, but the results don’t tell the entire story! Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had a dominating position against Peter Svidler, but one slip allowed his opponent to solve all his problems tactically. Fabiano Caruana also had great winning chances against Ian Nepomniachtchi but the position was very complicated with a lot of room to err. Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian, both of whom suffered tough losses yesterday, played a quick draw. In the all American match up of Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, the current US champion was pressing with the white pieces but could not convert his extra pawn. All eyes, once again, were on Magnus Carlsen who had to face another rival, Vishy Anand. The World Champion won a pawn tactically, but the resulting rook endgame did not offer winning chances. Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana remain in the lead.