2017 Cup Chronicle Issue 4

The hard-fought game between Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave produced the sole leader of the tournament for the first time. Far from perfect, the game was a rollercoaster ride which started as advantageous for Carlsen, but several mistakes later ended in Vachier-Lagrave’s favor. Clearly a heartbreaking loss for the World Champion, who needs to recover quickly and not allow this loss to dictate the direction of the rest of his tournament. On the other hand, the win is a big confidence boost for the Frenchman who not only defeated one of his main rivals with the black pieces, but will also have three whites in the remaining five games. The rest of the games ended in a draw, except for Ian Nepomniachtchi's win over Hikaru Nakamura, which puts Fabiano Caruana in clear second place—only half a point behind the leader.