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Never a boring second on the 2022 Sinquefield Cup: In the matchup between the 2 leaders, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Hans Niemann, the younger American brought about a large sensation by outplaying and finally beating the Norwegian.
Other wins had been picked up by GM Wesley So within the all-American encounter in opposition to GM Fabiano Caruana and by GM Alireza Firouzja who beat GM Levon Aronian. So is now in second place whereas Firouzja joins a giant group on 50 p.c and shares third place.
Ahead of spherical three, a part of the pregame narrative was that the Niemann with a victory may cross 2700 on the reside record for the primary time—not that anybody anticipated this to occur; in any case, with the black items, he was dealing with the world champion. Yet, it was nonetheless there, within the undercurrent, probably ready to occur. Of course, nobody had informed Niemann that it could be outdoors his attain as a result of as he has repeatedly demonstrated previously few years, boundaries are one thing others set, however he breaks.
Carlsen-Niemann
In the sport between the leaders, it was clear that the world champion, like in his sport in opposition to GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in spherical one, aimed to get an unresolved however playable place the place he may squeeze his younger opponent for hours. For this goal, his weapon of selection was the Fianchetto Variation in opposition to Niemann’s Nimzo-Indian.
That, nevertheless, didn’t work out as Carlsen had hoped, as Niemann easily gained a snug place the place, if anybody, he had the higher hand. Unlike his video games in rounds one and two, Niemann additionally made certain to remain healthily forward on the clock.
As the world champion pushed to do one thing together with his considerably worse place, Niemann continued to play good, lively strikes, by no means succumbing to the temptation of settling for a draw from some extent of energy. No, if the prospect to beat the world champion arose, he would undoubtedly seize and run with it.
As the sport continued, this turned the precise narrative for its conclusion and when getting a possibility to ship the feeling of the event, Niemann took it and secured the complete level confidently. The sport is our selection because the Game of the Day.
Mamedyarov-Vachier-Lagrave
The two combatants of this encounter have performed this yr on a number of events, however so far as I can keep in mind, not as soon as have the video games featured GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave‘s favourite reply to 1.d4, the Grunfeld Indian Defense. For some cause, the French GM has persistently performed Queen’s Gambit, notably the Queen’s Gambit Accepted in opposition to GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Sunday’s sport made no exception to that sample. When the Azeri grandmaster then selected to veer away from 7.b3, which has in any other case been his go-to line of late, by as a substitute taking part in 7.dxc5, I began to suspect that we would see an uneventful sport and a brief day on the workplace for the 2 gamers.
Despite White successful a pawn, that suspicion quickly got here to be a truth when the gamers additional appeared fully decided to not hurt one another by systematically exchanging every part off whereas quietly buzzing the acquainted tune of the lumberjack track (properly, in all probability not, however it could have been humorous).
Soon, they arrived at a rook ending that neither facet may anticipate to win, and once they discovered a approach to repeat the strikes, the draw turned a actuality.
So-Caruana
The Philippine-born grandmaster is each extremely robust and unbelievably nice with sort phrases and compliments for practically everybody ranked round him in addition to these above.
After two strong attracts with the black items in rounds one and two, he lastly had a go along with White in opposition to his struggling Olympiad teammate, Caruana, who in spherical two missed extra alternatives for a bonus than Liverpool had scored of their latest Premiership match in opposition to Bournemouth. (For these unaware, the crimson ones scored a sensational 9 targets in that match.)
Against So’s 1.e4, Caruana opted for the Petroff, a weapon that he has been utilizing with regularity since his world championship in opposition to Carlsen. Maybe banning the Petroff can be a approach to lure Carlsen again to taking part in for the title sooner or later…
So selected the considerably odd-looking 5.Bd3, a line he had additionally used in opposition to Nepomniachtchi earlier this yr in a web-based sport.
Unsurprisingly, Black equalized and appeared to have a nice place till Caruana fully out of the blue performed the hyper-aggressive and fairly weakening 15…g5?! that instantly gave White one thing to play for and in opposition to.
It can be unsuitable to say that with the benefit in hand, So confidently transformed it to a full level as a result of there have been numerous errors and inaccuracies alongside the best way from each side. However, some details stay: White stored a bonus for the rest of the sport and finally managed to win.
With this win, So is now in sole possession of second place within the event, and Caruana’s woes proceed unabatedly.
Firouzja-Aronian
Badly needing a victory after his fiasco within the earlier spherical, and when provided a possibility, Firouzja sacrificed a chunk for a few pawns to tear open Black’s king shelter. This proved to be an efficient approach to unbalance the sport in his favor as a result of Aronian remained on his heels for the remainder of the sport.
There had been a number of alternatives to play higher for each side, however the outcome was by no means actually doubtful. Firouzja 1, Aronian 0.
Dominguez-Nepomniachtchi
After the Saturday spherical, GM Leinier Dominguez and Nepomniachtchi might be fairly happy. Dominguez had saved a horrible, if not misplaced, place in opposition to Caruana whereas the Russian had received a convincing sport in opposition to Firouzja.
In an try to construct on the momentum, Nepomniachtchi forsook the in any other case trusty Petroff that served him admirably all through his world championship match in opposition to Carlsen final yr and the Candidates event this yr. Maybe the prospect of taking part in it in opposition to Dominguez who in all probability is aware of the opening simply in addition to he does was the explanation. In any case, he wheeled out the Najdorf, a choice that GM Hikaru Nakamura questioned on his reside Twitch stream.
It didn’t take lengthy for this prediction to rear its ugly head as a result of Nepomniachtchi both forgot his traces or blended one thing up when he performed 10…Nbd7?! as a substitute of the theoretical principal line, which is 10…Be6. Suddenly, the American participant had a somewhat clear benefit, one thing that turned painfully apparent when the Russian number-one needed to play 16…Kf7 to keep away from materials losses.
After one other mistake by Nepomniachtchi, 22…Bxd2?, Dominguez had the chance to money in on his benefit with 23.Bxd6, successful a minimum of one and probably two pawns. But the sooner strikes had price plenty of time for the American time-trouble addict. With slightly below 12 minutes left on the clock, he as a substitute opted for 23.Rxd2, throwing the vast majority of his benefit away in a single fell swoop.
For the rest of the sport, White had marginally higher probabilities, however the hopes of victory vanished like a raindrop within the Missouri River.
All Games Day 3
Standings after spherical 3
The 2022 Sinquefield Cup is the fifth and closing leg of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour. The 10 gamers compete in an all-play-all round-robin for his or her share of the $319,000 prize fund.
Coverage of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup
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