[Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.24"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A21"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2736"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "170"] [GameId "2214766600333169"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,170,15,24,7,0,11,15,25,15,36,11,15,-5,6,15,5,0,11,8,8,4,21,2,1,0,13,11,20,28,30,-17,29,8,22,5,12,29,-143,24,-103,-10,-211,-1,-199,-46,-244,-71,-215,-126,-250,-153,-246,-159,-192,-112,-175,-120,-238,-105,-216,-166,-308,-176,-358,-162,-176,-173,-183,-182,-223,-198,-207,-157,-200,-202,-208,-195,-192,-204,-249,-227,-203,-205,-142,-1,-172,-169,-152,-178,-179,-179,-175,-178,-113,-221,-138,-238,-211,-255,-255,-180,-192,-123,-118,-122,-112,-125,-136,-110,-99,-60,-110,-99,-110,-203,-147,-121,-122,-145,-120,-129,-170,-158,-166,-113,-170,-168,-129,-128,-112,-112,-128,-100,-171,-167,-167,-99,-122,-125,-149,-127,-147,-116,-127,-147,-149,-47,-47,-60,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,0,0,0,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,0,0]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. Nf3 d6 5. g3 (5. d4) 5... Nf6 6. Nc3 c5 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. O-O $146 Be6 9. d3 h6 {Back to a couple of predecessors.} 10. e4 Qd7 11. Nd5 Rb8 $146 12. a4 Bh3 {A bit surprising to me: why would Black want to swap off White's garbage bishop on g2? The engine concurs, recommending that Black drop the bishop back to g4 in many lines.} (12... Bg4 {looks sensible, looking to exchange off one of White's defenders of the d4 square.}) 13. Bd2 (13. Ne3 $14) 13... b6 14. Nc7+ $1 Kf8 ({If} 14... Qxc7 15. Bxh3 $14 {the bishop is now a decent piece.}) 15. Nd5 a5 16. Ne1 Nxd5 (16... h5) 17. cxd5 Nd4 18. Bxh3 Qxh3 $11 19. Be3 h5 20. Bxd4 exd4 $6 (20... cxd4 $11) 21. f4 $6 (21. Nc2 $14 {/? Black is in some trouble as White's knight makes its way to c4.}) 21... f5 $11 22. Nf3 $6 h4 $1 23. gxh4 $2 (23. Qe1 $11 {/?}) 23... Bxh4 $6 (23... fxe4 $1 24. dxe4 Kg8 $1 $17 {is a nice move, clearing f8 for the b8-rook.}) 24. b3 $2 {A desirable move, but White doesn't have time for this.} (24. Qe2 $15) 24... Re8 (24... fxe4 $142 25. dxe4 Kg8 $1 $19 {again intending ...Rf8, with a decisive advantage.}) 25. e5 g5 $6 $17 {/-+} (25... Bg3 $1 $19) 26. fxg5 (26. Ra2 $1) 26... Bxg5 $1 $19 27. exd6 Be3+ $6 (27... Re3 $1) 28. Kh1 Rd8 $2 (28... f4 $17) 29. Qe2 $2 (29. Ra2 $11) 29... Rxd6 $19 30. Ng1 Qh5 (30... Qh7 $1) 31. Qxh5 Rxh5 32. Ra2 Rxd5 33. Nf3 Kf7 34. h4 Rd8 35. Rg2 Kf6 36. Kh2 Bf4+ 37. Kh3 Re8 $1 38. Re1 Rxh4+ $1 {It's incredible that Abdusattorov saved this.} 39. Nxh4 (39. Kxh4 Rh8#) 39... Rxe1 40. Rg6+ Kf7 41. Kg2 (41. Rxb6 Rh1+ $19) 41... Re2+ $2 {MVL has seen that he can reach a king and pawn ending with an extra pawn. What he hasn't done is correctly assess it: it's a draw.} (41... Re3 $19) (41... Rd1 $19) 42. Kf3 $15 Rh2 43. Kxf4 Rxh4+ 44. Kxf5 Rh5+ 45. Rg5 Rh3 46. Rg6 Rf3+ 47. Kg4 $2 (47. Ke4 $1 $15) 47... Kxg6 $2 (47... Rxd3 48. Rxb6 Ke7 $19) 48. Kxf3 {Black has an extra pawn, will have the further advanced pawn, and can have hte opposition. None of it matters: it's a draw.} Kg5 (48... Kf5 49. Kg3 $8 Kg5 (49... Ke5 {we'll see later in the game.}) 50. Kf3 Kh4 51. Kf4 $11) 49. Kg3 $8 Kf5 50. Kf3 Ke5 51. Kg4 Kd6 52. Kf3 $8 {Time to head back.} Kc7 53. Ke4 $8 Kd6 54. Kf3 b5 $5 55. axb5 Kc7 56. Ke2 $8 Kb6 57. Kd2 Kxb5 58. Kc1 Kc6 59. Kc2 Kd6 60. Kd2 Ke6 61. Ke2 Ke5 62. Ke1 Kf5 63. Kf1 $8 Kg5 64. Kg1 $8 Kh4 65. Kf2 $8 (65. Kh2 $2 {takes the king too far away.} c4 66. bxc4 (66. dxc4 d3 $19) 66... a4 67. c5 a3 68. c6 a2 69. c7 a1=Q 70. c8=Q Qb2+ 71. Kg1 Kg3 72. Qg8+ Kf3 73. Qa8+ Ke3 74. Qe4+ Kd2 75. Qg2+ Kc1 76. Qf1+ Kc2 77. Qg2+ Kb1 78. Qf3 Qa1 $3 79. Kf2 Kc2 $19 {Black will soon with the d-pawn, and the resulting ending is a win.}) 65... Kg4 66. Kg2 Kf5 67. Kf1 Ke6 68. Ke2 Kd7 69. Kd1 Kc6 70. Kc2 Kb5 71. Kc1 a4 72. Kb2 $8 axb3 73. Kxb3 Ka6 {A nice and tricky move.} 74. Ka2 $1 {Maintaining distant opposition.} (74. Kc4 $2 Kb6 75. Kb3 Kb5 76. Kc2 (76. Ka3 c4 77. dxc4+ Kxc4 78. Kb2 d3 (78... Kd3 $19 {followed by 79...Ke2 and ...d3-d2-d1 is in a way easier.}) 79. Kc1 Kc3 80. Kd1 d2 81. Ke2 Kc2 $19) 76... Ka4 77. Kb2 Kb4 78. Kc2 Ka3 79. Kc1 Kb3 80. Kd2 Kb2 81. Kd1 Kc3 82. Ke2 Kc2 $19) 74... Kb7 75. Kb1 Kb6 76. Kb2 Kb5 77. Kb3 Kc6 78. Kc2 Kd5 79. Kd1 c4 {There's nothing left to try. This isn't itself a try, but a way to make a draw in a tournament where draw offers apparently aren't allowed.} 80. dxc4+ Kxc4 81. Kc2 d3+ 82. Kd2 Kd4 83. Kd1 Kc3 84. Kc1 d2+ 85. Kd1 Kd3 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.24"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Gukesh, D."] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2766"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "156"] [GameId "2214766600333170"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,156,19,8,20,60,25,15,18,16,25,20,15,20,18,10,13,14,-3,13,19,4,14,-13,16,14,1,15,0,15,13,6,14,-4,26,32,23,31,42,34,43,60,13,-52,79,-69,-73,-39,-38,-42,-48,-66,-77,-77,-77,-68,-75,-75,-51,-72,-124,-95,-96,-93,-307,-94,-104,-77,-50,-73,-111,-3,-119,-103,-192,-111,-104,-106,-114,-52,-112,-108,-121,-121,-108,-106,-124,-111,-99,-97,-94,-84,-103,-97,-99,-105,-113,-129,-115,-97,-80,-117,-99,-101,-104,-101,-109,-65,-87,-84,-81,-74,-98,-67,-53,-66,-58,-1,-69,-33,-79,-49,-98,-26,-65,-44,-43,-85,-78,-84,-52,-73,-29,-86,-37,-53,-74,-39,-63,-99,-58,-36,-10,-40,-24,-57,0,0,0,-2,0,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {One of the most old-fashioned lines against the Najdorf.} e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 {This has been around for a while, but it's not the way they played the 6.Be2 variation in the 60s and 70s during its heyday.} Nc6 (9... Be6 {is by far the main move.}) 10. Bf1 a5 $146 11. Nd2 Bg4 12. f3 Be6 13. Nc4 Nd4 14. a4 Rc8 15. Ne3 Nh5 (15... g6 $11) 16. g3 (16. Nb5 $14) 16... Qb6 17. Kh1 Nf6 18. Nb5 Nd7 19. Ra3 (19. b3 $16) 19... Nc5 20. Nc3 Qd8 21. Ned5 $2 (21. Ncd5 $14 {/? was better, to follow up with c3.}) 21... Na6 $15 22. Bxa6 bxa6 23. Be3 Bxd5 24. exd5 Rc4 25. Qd3 $2 (25. Bxd4 Rxd4 26. Qe2 $15) 25... Qc8 $1 $17 26. Bxd4 Rxd4 27. Qe2 f5 28. Rb3 Bg5 $6 (28... Bd8) 29. f4 $2 (29. Rb6 $142 $15) 29... exf4 $19 30. Qe6+ Kh8 $2 $11 {Missing a big chance.} (30... Qxe6 31. dxe6 (31. Rxe6 f3 32. Re1 (32. Kg1 Rd2 $19) 32... f4 $19) 31... Re8 $19) 31. Qxc8 Rxc8 32. Rb6 fxg3 33. hxg3 h6 34. Rxa6 $6 (34. Rxd6 {was better (and more natural), taking the healthier pawn and creating a passed d-pawn.}) 34... Bd2 35. Nb5 Rxd5 36. Re2 Rxc2 (36... f4 $142 37. Rxd6 Rh5+ 38. Kg2 Bc1 39. gxf4 Bxf4 40. Rde6 Kh7 $15) 37. Rxd6 $11 Rxd6 38. Nxd6 Rxb2 39. Kg2 Bc3 40. Rxb2 Bxb2 41. Nxf5 Kg8 42. Kf3 Kf7 (42... h5 43. g4 $11) 43. g4 $1 {The only move - Black must not get in ...h5 for free.} Kf6 44. Ne3 Kg5 45. Nc4 Bc3 46. Ne3 Be5 47. Nc4 Bc7 48. Ne3 g6 49. Nd5 Bd6 50. Ne3 Kh4 51. Kg2 Bf4 52. Nc4 Bc7 53. Ne3 Be5 54. Nc4 Bc3 55. Ne3 Bb4 56. Kf3 Kh3 57. Nc4 h5 58. gxh5 gxh5 59. Ne5 Bd6 60. Nf7 Bc7 61. Ng5+ Kh2 62. Ne4 Bd8 63. Nf2 Be7 64. Nd3 Bd6 65. Nf2 Bb8 66. Ne4 Ba7 67. Nf6 h4 68. Ne4 Bb6 69. Kg4 Bd8 (69... h3 70. Ng5 $11) 70. Nf2 Kg2 71. Nh3 Kf1 72. Nf4 Kf2 73. Ng6 Ke3 74. Ne5 Bc7 75. Nc4+ Kd4 76. Nxa5 Bxa5 77. Kxh4 Bb4 78. a5 Bxa5 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.24"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B22"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2725"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "63"] [GameId "2214766600333171"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. a3 b6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bb7 8. Nd2 Nc6 9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. Nf3 Ne7 $146 11. Bf4 Nf5 (11... Ng6 {may be a little better than the text, with White retaining a slight edge after something like} 12. Bg3 Bc5 13. h4 f6 14. Bd3 O-O $1 15. Qc2 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 fxe5 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. b4 $1 Bd6 19. O-O Rc8 20. Rae1 Qf6 21. Re3 $14) 12. h4 $14 {/?} Be7 13. Bd3 (13. h5 $142 g5 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. Qd2 $14 {/?}) 13... g6 14. Bxf5 gxf5 15. Nd4 Qc7 16. Qh5 {Here many moves maintain equality, but the one Duda chose isn't among them.} Bf6 $2 {The engine doesn't like this move, as it amounts to giving White the move Qe2 for free from the position after 15...Qc7.} (16... Bxg2 17. Rg1 Bd5 18. Rg7 O-O-O 19. c4 Ba8 20. Nb5 Qb7 21. O-O-O Qe4 22. Rd4 $8 Qe1+ 23. Qd1 Qxf2 $11 {This is equal, but I would be with Duda in not wanting to have any part of this.}) (16... Rg8 17. Qxh7 O-O-O 18. Qxf7 Bc5 19. O-O-O Rxg2 20. Bg5 Rf8 21. Qg7 Rxf2 $11 {looks more like it - there's plenty of peril for both sides.}) 17. Nxc6 (17. Qe2 Be7 18. f3 $16) 17... dxc6 18. O-O-O (18. Qe2 $142 $14 {/?}) 18... Bxe5 19. Bxe5 (19. Bh6 {, preventing castling, still keeps some advantage.}) 19... Qxe5 {White regains sufficient compensation for the pawn, but not more. Without minor pieces it will be hard to get at Black's king.} 20. Rhe1 Qf6 21. Rd6 O-O {With the h-file closed Black's king can always tuck itself away to safety on h8. White gets his pawn back, and the game peters out to a draw.} 22. Rxc6 Rac8 23. Rd6 (23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Re3 {keeps the game going, but without any genuine chances for more than a draw. So Pragg lets Duda kill off the game.}) 23... Rxc3+ 24. bxc3 Qxc3+ 25. Kd1 Qa1+ 26. Ke2 Qe5+ 27. Kf1 Qxd6 28. Qg5+ Kh8 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Qg5+ Kh8 31. Qf6+ Kg8 32. Qg5+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.24"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Sevian, Samuel"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2683"] [BlackElo "2784"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "54"] [GameId "2214766600333172"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Bf5 {Relatively rare, but Caruana has played this way before.} (7... O-O 8. e3 Bf5 {is a more common way to get the bishop to f5, avoiding the check on a4.}) 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. e3 g5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Rc1 (11. Bb5 {has been far more popular.} Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Ne7 13. Nd2 Ng6 14. Qd1 h5 15. h3 c6 16. Be2 h4 17. Bh2 b5 18. a4 a6 19. O-O Re8 20. Re1 Qe7 21. Bf3 Be4 22. Be2 Bf5 23. Bf3 Be4 24. Be2 Bf5 {½-½ Gukesh,D (2777)-Caruana,F (2803) Tata Steel-A 87th Wijk aan Zee 2025 (3)}) 11... Ne4 12. Nd2 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxd2 14. Kxd2 a6 {Black is three for three drawing from this position (four for four after this game), and the engine concurs, offering its official Seal of Approval (i.e. 0.00).} 15. h4 (15. Be2 Qd7 16. h4 b5 (16... g4 17. Qa3 Rfe8 18. h5 Rac8 19. Bf4 Qe6 20. f3 b5 21. fxg4 Bxg4 22. Rcf1 Bxe2 23. Kxe2 Nb8 24. Rf3 Nd7 25. Rhf1 Kh7 26. Qb2 f5 27. Qc2 c5 28. Kd1 b4 29. Rg3 Rg8 30. Rxg8 Rxg8 31. Bc7 Rg5 32. Bf4 Rg7 33. cxb4 cxb4 34. Kc1 a5 35. Rf2 Nb6 36. Be5 Nc4 37. Rxf5 Kg8 38. Rf6 Qe8 39. Bf4 Nxe3 40. Qc6 Qxc6+ 41. Rxc6 Nc4 42. g3 Re7 43. Rc5 a4 44. Rxd5 b3 45. axb3 axb3 46. Rd8+ Kf7 47. Kd1 b2 48. Rb8 Re8 49. Kc2 Re1 50. Kd3 b1=Q+ 51. Rxb1 Rxb1 52. Kxc4 Rh1 53. g4 Rg1 54. Bxh6 Rxg4 55. Bd2 Rg2 56. Kd3 Ke6 57. Bf4 Kd5 58. h6 Rb2 {½-½ Greenberg,N (1993)-Ambos,I (2194) FICGS rapid A 000277 email FICGS email 2021 (1)}) 17. Qa3 g4 18. f3 Rfe8 19. h5 Rac8 20. Bf4 Nd8 21. Rhf1 Nb7 22. fxg4 Bxg4 23. Rce1 c5 24. Qxa6 Bxe2 25. Rxe2 cxd4 26. cxd4 Re6 27. Qa3 Qd8 28. Rf3 Nd6 29. Bxd6 Rxd6 30. Ref2 Rd7 31. Qd3 Qa5+ 32. Kd1 Rc3 33. Rg3+ Kf8 34. Qh7 Qa4+ 35. Rc2 Rdc7 36. Qg7+ Ke7 37. Qe5+ Kd7 38. Qxd5+ Ke7 39. Qe5+ {½-½ Roth,P (2228)-Speisser,P (2256) EU-ch 2021 pr01 email ICCF email}) 15... b5 $146 (15... g4 16. Qa3 Qd7 17. f3 h5 18. Ke2 Rae8 19. Kf2 b5 20. Re1 Re6 21. Qc5 Ne7 22. Qxc7 Rc6 {½-½ Baciak,M (2327)-Benes,J (2232) CZE-chT9 3P email ICCF email 2021}) 16. Qa3 g4 {Notwithstanding the engine score and the draws in correspondence games, this is a real mess. Opposite-colored bishops, which help the attackers in situations like this, gappy pawn structures around both kings, pawn breaks on opposite sides of the board (f3 and e4 or maybe someday g4 for White on the kingside, ...b4 or maybe someday ...c5 for Black on the queenside) - it could be fun. (At least for us amateurs.)} 17. Qc5 Qd7 18. f3 Rfe8 (18... Rfc8 $5) 19. Bf4 (19. fxg4 Bxg4 20. Bd3) 19... h5 20. Be2 Rac8 21. e4 {Opening the 5th rank so the queen can go to g5. The idea was stronger than Sevian appreciated.} dxe4 22. fxg4 Bxg4 $2 {Perhaps Caruana was happy with a draw, and it's what he gets, too. But this is a mistake, and not just because 22...e3+ followed by 23...hxg4 was a good alternative. White is now winning, and Caruana is fortunate that Sevian didn't realize this.} (22... e3+ 23. Ke1 $8 (23. Bxe3 $2 Re5 $1 24. Qa3 Rce8 $1 $19 {wins.}) 23... hxg4 {is a viable option, and if White insists on trying to force a perpetual with} 24. Bxg4 $5 (24. Rf1 $142 f6 {takes the perpetual off the table. Black is fine, and the position remains extremely sharp. One forcing possibility is} 25. Bh2 Ne7 26. Rxf5 $1 Qxf5 27. Qxf5 Nxf5 28. Bxg4 Nxh4 29. Bxc8 Rxc8 30. c4 $15 {Black is better if anyone is, but White should make a draw.}) 24... Ne5 $1 {White's attempt at clearance is met by this nice interference move.} 25. Be2 $1 f6 {and Black is better.}) 23. Qg5+ Kh7 $2 (23... Kf8 $142 24. Rhf1 Bxe2 25. Kxe2 Qg4+ 26. Qxg4 hxg4 27. Bh6+ Kg8 28. Rf4 $16 {/+- is bad for Black, whose kingside pawns - and king - are all vulnerable. That said, the game continuation is even worse for him.}) 24. Qh6+ $2 (24. Rcf1 $1 Bxe2 25. Kxe2 Qg4+ 26. Ke1 {Even better than initiating the trade of queens, which is also winning.} Qxg5 27. hxg5 $1 Kg6 28. g4 $1 h4 (28... Rh8 29. Be3 $1 $18 {and the threat of Rf6+ is crushing.}) 29. Rxh4 Rh8 30. Rfh1 Rxh4 31. Rxh4 Kg7 32. Rh6 Ne7 33. Be5+ Kf8 34. Rh8+ Ng8 35. Kf2 {Material is equal - for the moment - but Black is so tied down that the battle is already over.}) 24... Kg8 25. Qg5+ Kh7 $2 26. Qh6+ $4 {Now it's equal, whether White goes for the repetition or not.} Kg8 27. Qg5+ Kh7 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.24"] [Round "6.5"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2737"] [BlackElo "2745"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "71"] [GameId "2214766600333173"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,71,17,20,18,19,22,11,23,11,13,10,24,22,23,23,33,23,35,29,22,-3,-4,-3,-5,5,-7,-8,17,-2,0,0,-21,1,2,7,-7,0,-33,-40,-37,-52,-50,-76,7,8,9,73,-25,-37,-64,-231,-221,-192,-55,97,-1,1,62,-1,1,1,1,-1,1,1,-1,1,-1,-1,1,-1,1,-1]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 {The pattern of dual games in almost every round continues. This time there are two games that reached this position.} Be7 ({Caruana played the Ragozin move} 5... Bb4 {against Sevian.}) 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Bg4 (7... Bf5 $2 {- see the note to move 9.} 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Qb3 $16) 8. Nf3 {This seems rather compliant, but White has done well with this "agreeable" move.} (8. Qc2) (8. Qb3) (8. f3) 8... Nbd7 9. h3 Bf5 $1 $11 {It might seem as if Black has wasted a tempo, but 7...Bf5 wasn't feasible.} 10. g4 $146 {Trying to make the most of the free (though not "wasted") tempo.} Bh7 (10... Be4 $5) 11. Bd3 c6 12. Bxh7 Nxh7 13. Bg3 Nhf6 14. Nd2 Bb4 {"Ragozin-ing" the position. Less jocularly, Black is fighting for the e4 square, especially since f2-f3 has its dangers.} 15. a3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Qe7 17. a4 h5 $5 (17... Ne4 $11) (17... O-O $11) (17... b6 $11) (17... c5 $11) 18. g5 (18. Qb1 $1 $14) 18... Ne4 $11 19. Nxe4 Qxe4 20. O-O Nb6 21. Rb1 Qe7 22. h4 O-O $2 {This would be brave if there were any non-brave options available to Black. There doesn't seem to be any fully safe haven available to Black's king, so he has to pick whatever he takes to be the lesser evil and go with it.} (22... Nc4 23. e4 O-O 24. exd5 cxd5 25. Qxh5 Qd7 $1 26. Rfe1 Rae8 $11) 23. Qxh5 Nxa4 24. Be5 (24. Kh2 Nxc3 25. Rb2 $14) 24... Nxc3 25. f4 $2 {Entertaining and dangerous, but ultimately a mistake.} ({It wasn't necessary to sac.} 25. Rb2 $1 $16 Ne4 26. f3 Nd6 27. Rg2 Nc4 28. g6 fxg6 29. Rxg6 Nxe5 30. dxe5 Rae8 31. e6 Qd6 32. Qg4 Qe5 33. f4 $1 Qxe3+ 34. Kg2 Qd2+ 35. Kh3 Qc3+ 36. Rf3 Qa1 37. Qg2 $18 {Black's counterplay is finished, and the coming advance of White's f- and h-pawns will finish the game as well.}) 25... Nxb1 26. f5 Nd2 $8 27. f6 (27. Rf2 Qb4 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. Qh6+ Kg8 30. g6 (30. f6 $4 Qb1+ 31. Kg2 Qh7 $19 (31... Qg6 $19)) 30... Nf3+ $1 31. Rxf3 Qe1+ 32. Kg2 Qe2+ 33. Kg3 fxg6 $8 {Black can - and must - do this now that White's rook can't access the g-file.} 34. Qxg6+ Kh8 35. Qh6+ Kg8 36. Qg6+ $11) 27... Qxe5 $1 {Forced.} 28. dxe5 Nxf1 29. fxg7 Kxg7 30. Qh6+ Kg8 31. g6 (31. Kxf1 $6 Rae8 {and now White must earn the draw, without any winning chances.} 32. Qd6 $8 Re6 33. Qd7 b5 34. Qxa7 Rxe5 $15) 31... fxg6 32. Qxg6+ Kh8 33. Qh6+ Kg8 34. Qg6+ Kh8 35. Qh6+ Kg8 36. Qg6+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.25"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Aronian, L."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2737"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "68"] [GameId "2214876835341446"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1607"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceQuality "2"] {[%evp 0,68,13,29,30,23,-80,32,6,-24,0,11,-54,5,14,42,24,-5,77,84,76,33,8,-29,-31,-14,34,70,17,91,9,13,75,64,50,26,24,5,18,52,-61,44,-64,-7,40,34,31,25,33,33,33,36,27,23,21,24,23,16,15,12,8,7,47,8,15,8,85,1,1,1,59] Caruana came into the game as the sole leader of the touranment and as such almost guaranteed a spot in the Grand Chess Tour Final in Brazil. For him, the priority was not to lose the game, and so he went straight into a line that would just about guarantee a draw against one of his main rivals. For Aronian the draw was also welcome - an easy hold with Black that secured his tournament position. So the players blitzed out the moves and the game ended while everyone else was still in the opening.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Qb6 9. Qd2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Bb5 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 a6 13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Rb3 Qe7 15. Rxb7 Rc8 (15... Qd8 {was Aronian's choice in his round 3 game vs. MVL. A little later he went astray, probably mixing up something from his preparation, and was a little lucky to survive the game unscathed.}) 16. O-O Qd8 17. Qf2 (17. Qe3 {is the most common move, and White has tried other options like}) ({and} 17. f5) (17. Rfb1 {.}) 17... Rxc3 $1 18. Bxc3 Qc8 {Black has many tricks in these lines that exploit the a7-g1 diagonal, and this is just one more of them.} 19. Rb3 Ba4 20. Bd4 Bxb3 21. axb3 Be7 {This line is extremely reliable for Black: 50 games, 49 draws.} 22. f5 $146 {But here's a surprise, albeit a toothless one.} (22. c3 {was played in 48 of the 50 games.}) 22... exf5 23. Qxf5 O-O 24. Qxc8 Rxc8 25. c3 f6 {The board's contents melt like chocolate in an Arizona summer.} 26. exf6 Bxf6 27. Bxf6 gxf6 28. Rxf6 Rxc3 29. Rxa6 Rxb3 {No further "easy" exchanges are forthcoming, so it's time to generate a repetition. These guys are pros at that.} 30. Ra7 Rb1+ 31. Kf2 Rb2+ 32. Kg1 Rb1+ 33. Kf2 Rb2+ 34. Kg1 Rb1+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.25"] [Round "7.2"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Sevian, Samuel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A29"] [WhiteElo "2736"] [BlackElo "2683"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "113"] [GameId "2214876835370119"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1607"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 O-O 9. b4 Be6 10. Rb1 f6 11. b5 Nd4 12. a4 (12. e3 {is the main move, when White has rarely achieved anything after} Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 Qc8 $11 {followed by ...Rd8 (major exception: if White plays 14.a4 Black plays 14...a5).}) 12... a5 13. Ne1 $146 (13. e3 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Bb4 {takes advantage of White's early a4 (relative to 12.e3).} ({Note that playing} 14... Qc8 {does *not* transpose to the 12.e3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 Qc8 14.a4 a5 line - not really - because there White just about always plays 15.bxa6. Here that's illegal - at least unless the en passant rule is changed.})) 13... Qc8 (13... Rb8 14. e3 Nf5 $11) 14. e3 Nf5 15. Qc2 Nd6 (15... Kh8 $142 $11) 16. Ba3 $14 Re8 17. Nd3 Bh3 18. Bxh3 Qxh3 19. f4 Nf7 $6 20. Bxe7 Rxe7 21. Qa2 $2 (21. f5 $1 $16) 21... Kh8 (21... Qf5 $142 $11) 22. Ne4 (22. fxe5 $142 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Rxe5 24. Qf7 $14) 22... Rd8 (22... Qf5 $11) 23. Qa3 Red7 $2 (23... Ree8 $11) 24. Nef2 $2 (24. Nec5 Rd5 25. Rbc1 $16 e4 $2 26. Nf2 $18) 24... Qh5 $11 25. Rbc1 exf4 26. Nxf4 Qe5 27. Rc2 Ng5 28. d4 Qe8 29. Rfc1 Re7 30. Rc3 Rdd7 31. Kg2 h6 32. Qa2 Ne6 33. Nxe6 Rxe6 34. e4 Rxd4 35. Rxc7 Re7 (35... Rxa4 36. Qd2 Rb4 37. Rxb7 $11) 36. Qa3 Rxc7 37. Rxc7 Rd7 38. Rxd7 Qxd7 39. Qc3 Nxa4 40. Qxa5 Nc5 {The time control has been made and the players have been steering the action towards a more stable, drawish equality. That's not to say that they have already reconciled themselves to a draw, but that's where the game's momentum is taking them.} 41. Qb4 Ne6 42. Qc4 Nd4 43. b6 Nc6 44. Nd3 Qd8 45. Nf4 Qd2+ (45... Qxb6 46. Ng6+ Kh7 47. Nf8+ Kh8 48. Ng6+ $11) 46. Kh3 Qd7+ 47. Qe6 Qxe6+ 48. Nxe6 Kg8 49. Nc5 Na5 50. Kg4 Kf7 51. Kh5 Nc4 52. Nxb7 Nxb6 {Now there's really nothing left, so the players repeat moves and call it a day.} 53. Nd6+ Ke6 54. Nf5 Kf7 55. Nd6+ Ke6 56. Nf5 Kf7 57. Nd6+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.25"] [Round "7.3"] [White "So, W."] [Black "Gukesh, D."] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2745"] [BlackElo "2776"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "77"] [GameId "2214876835374216"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1607"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 Bf6 10. Re1 Nf5 (10... Re8 {is far more common, when Black is generally pretty successful in achieving a draw without too much groveling. This is not Gukesh's style - he's not a fan of draws or groveling - and he finds a way to make interesting things happen.}) 11. Nd5 Bh4 $146 12. g3 c6 {There's the point. So seems to like draws almost as much as post-World Championship Boris Spassky did (though not to the point of entering the playing hall in shorts and carrying a tennis racket to give his opponents a hint), but in this game he accepts Gukesh's provocation and fully joins the battle.} 13. Bh3 $1 Nd4 14. gxh4 $5 (14. Ne3 {followed by c3 was safer and probably better, but who cares? It's nice to see So taking risks.}) 14... cxd5 15. c3 Qxh4 16. Bg2 Nf5 17. d4 d6 18. Bxd5 {White has the bishop pair and everything in his favor except for the missing g-pawn. ("Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?") Black should have excellent play here, but if the queens come off Black's position goes immediately from good to *very* bad.} Be6 $5 (18... Qf6 {first, to prepare ...Be6, was a good idea; another is to play ...Ne7-g6.}) 19. Bxb7 $1 Rae8 20. Bc6 {A critical moment. Gukesh has a remarkable way to more or less force a draw here, and while his antipathy towards draws is well-known it's quite possible that he didn't see the idea.} Re7 $6 (20... d5 $3 21. Bxe8 Qh3 $1 {The exclamation point here is probably superfluous since I awarded two to Black's previous move, which would make no sense without this follow-up. Regardless, this cool, quiet move is the justification of the previous move. Black first cut off White's bishop from the defense with 20...d5, and now Black clears h4 for the knight.} 22. Bg5 $1 Rxe8 23. c4 $1 h6 $1 24. cxd5 $1 hxg5 25. dxe6 Nh4 26. exf7+ Kxf7 27. Qb3+ $8 Qxb3 28. axb3 Nf3+ 29. Kf1 Nxe1 30. Rxe1 Rb8 31. Re3 Rb4 $1 32. Rd3 Ke6 $1 $11 {Remarkably, White cannot win despite his two extra pawns. That said, we cannot describe this line as one that gives Black a grovel-free draw.}) 21. Bd2 $14 d5 $6 {Now it's too late.} (21... Bc8 22. Rxe7 Nxe7 23. Bh1 Re8 24. Qf3 Ng6 25. Qg3 $14) 22. Qf3 $16 Qf6 23. Kh1 $1 Qg6 24. Re5 $6 (24. Bf4 $1 $16 {/+-}) 24... Bc8 $6 ({Black had a remarkable tactical defense.} 24... Nh4 $1 25. Qg3 Bg4 $3 26. Rxe7 Nf5 27. Qf4 Nxe7 $14) 25. Bxd5 $16 Rxe5 26. dxe5 Rd8 $2 (26... Nh4 27. Qe4 Qh5 28. f3 Bf5 29. Qe2 Rd8 30. c4 $16) 27. Rg1 $18 Nh4 28. Qf4 $1 Rxd5 29. Rxg6 Nxg6 30. Qe3 {White's pieces are a bit clumsy at the moment, but his material advantage is too great for it to matter. White manages to consolidate over the next few moves, and then it's time for Gukesh to resign.} h5 31. c4 Rd8 (31... Rxe5 32. Qd4 Bb7+ 33. Kg1 Re4 34. Qd7 Rg4+ 35. Kf1 Bg2+ 36. Ke2 Rxc4 37. Qe8+ Nf8 38. Qb8 $18 {White will win the a-pawn and/or get in the crushing Bb4.}) 32. f3 h4 33. Kg1 Be6 34. b3 h3 35. Kf2 a6 36. Ke2 Bc8 37. Bb4 f6 38. exf6 gxf6 39. Ba5 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.25"] [Round "7.4"] [White "Duda, J."] [Black "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C48"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2771"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "113"] [GameId "2214876835374217"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1607"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6 {This funny-looking move has been very successful against the Spanish Four Knights. This enables Black to develop smoothly without worrying about losing/sacrificing the e-pawn, and in a few moves the bishop will relocate to a healthier square.} 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O h6 7. a3 Re8 8. Be3 Bf8 9. Bc4 d6 $11 {White's bishops are in the game and Black's aren't, and yet the position is completely equal and Black even has a plus score from here. Black will play ...Be6, ...Ne7-g6 and enjoy an easy life, at least for a while.} 10. h3 Be6 11. Bxe6 Rxe6 (11... fxe6 {is playable.} 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 c6 $11) 12. Nd5 $1 Ne7 (12... Re8 $11 {may be best, intending ...Nxd5 followed by ...Ne7 and ...f5.} 13. c4 Nxd5 14. cxd5 Ne7 15. Qb3 c6 $1 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. Qa4 a5 18. d4 exd4 19. Nxd4 c5 20. Nb5 Qd7 $15 21. Qc4 Rab8 22. a4 Nc6 23. Rfd1 Qe6 24. Rac1 Qxe4 25. Nxd6 Qxc4 26. Nxc4 Rb4 27. Nd6 Rd8 28. Bxc5 Rxa4 29. g3 Nd4 30. Rxd4 Rxd4 31. Bxd4 Bxd6 32. Rc4 Bb4 33. Kg2 Rd7 34. Kf3 Re7 35. Bc3 Bxc3 36. bxc3 f6 37. h4 Kf7 38. h5 Ra7 39. Ra4 Rc7 40. Rxa5 Rxc3+ 41. Kg4 Rc7 42. Kf3 {½-½ Paichadze,L (2560)-Mohota,N (2166) Raipur Chhattisgarh 2022 (10)}) 13. Nxf6+ (13. c4 c6 14. Nxf6+ Rxf6 15. d4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Qd7 17. Qc2 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. c5 Nc6 20. Rad1 Re8 21. Ne2 Rg6 22. Kh1 Re5 23. b4 a6 24. Rd2 a5 25. Nf4 Rf6 26. b5 Nd8 27. Bd4 Qxb5 28. Qb1 Qe8 29. Bxe5 Qxe5 30. Rxd5 Qxf4 31. Rxd8 Qc7 32. Ra8 Qxc5 33. Rc1 Rb6 34. Rxc5 Rxb1+ 35. Kh2 {1-0 Nepomniachtchi,I (2776)-Tomashevsky,E (2718) FIDE World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk 2019 (3.7)}) 13... Rxf6 14. d4 exd4 15. Nxd4 Ng6 $146 (15... d5 $1 $146 16. e5 Rg6 $11) (15... c5 {0-1 Koscielski,J (2332)-Schmidt,H (2364) GER-chT Betriebe 16th Dresden 2016 (7.1)} 16. Nb5 $146 {?}) 16. c4 $14 c6 17. Ne2 Re6 18. Nc3 (18. Ng3 $142 $14) 18... Ne5 19. Qe2 g5 $5 {This secures e5 for the knight (for a while; it's still possible for White to play g3 and then f4) but it could obviously backfire against Black in the long term.} 20. Rfd1 (20. Bd4) 20... Qe7 21. b4 $6 Bg7 (21... Rg6 $15 {and now Black can start building on the kingside.}) 22. Rac1 Ng6 23. Bd4 Nf4 24. Qe3 (24. Qd2 $142) (24. Qb2 $142 $11) 24... f5 25. Bxg7 Qxg7 26. Rd4 Rae8 27. Qd2 fxe4 (27... d5 $1 28. cxd5 cxd5 {and somehow Black's d-pawn is immune.} 29. Rc2 {might be White's only path to equality. The point of this move is to avoid various forking possibilities on e2, as you'll see in the ensuing variations.} (29. Rxd5 $2 Nxd5 $19) (29. exd5 $2 Re2 $1 {just about traps White's queen!} 30. Nxe2 {is the only move to avoid losing the queen, but White will be a piece in arrears after} (30. Qd1 $2 Re1+ 31. Qxe1 Rxe1+ 32. Rxe1 Qxd4 $19) 30... Nxe2+ 31. Kh2 Nxc1 $19) (29. g3 fxe4 $1 30. gxf4 gxf4+ 31. Kh1 f3 32. Rg1 Rg6 $15 {is playable for White, but Black's two pawns and kingside play give him the (slightly) better chances.}) (29. Nxd5 $4 Qxd4 30. Qxd4 Ne2+ $19) 29... Kh8 30. g3 dxe4 31. Rd7 R6e7 32. Rxe7 Rxe7 33. Nd5 $1 Nxd5 34. Rc8+ Kh7 35. Qxd5 Qf7 36. Qc5 $11) 28. Re1 $1 Qg6 29. Re3 Nh5 (29... a6 {looks good, aimed at securing the e4 pawn. (The idea is to play ...b5, nudging away White's c-pawn so he can continue with ...d5.)} 30. Qe1 b5 31. cxb5 axb5 32. Rdxe4 d5 $11 {and now everybody trades everything and they'll call it a draw.}) 30. Qe1 Nf6 31. Qd1 Nd7 $2 {Abdusattorov probably thought this would result in a repetition: White's queen goes back to e1, the knight goes back to f6, then Qd1 Nd7, rinse and repeat. That might have happened if Black had played 31...Nh5 instead, but here White has a sneaky tactic.} (31... Nh5 32. Qe1 Nf6 33. Qd1 Nh5 $11 {was possible, though not forced.}) 32. Nxe4 $1 Rxe4 33. Qd3 {Black's rook is double pinned, and so White will regain the sacrificed piece with interest.} d5 34. cxd5 cxd5 35. Rdxe4 dxe4 36. Qxd7 $18 {Black can't successfully defend everything White is attacking.} Qf7 37. Qd4 $1 {Black can defend a7 or e4, but not both.} Qa2 38. Rc3 {Now Black must worry about his king as well - Rc7 is a huge threat. (Please revisit the comment to Black's 19th move.)} (38. Qxa7 $18) 38... Qf7 39. Qxa7 Rd8 40. Rc1 Qf4 41. Re1 Rd7 42. Qc5 Kh7 43. Qc2 Rd3 44. Qc4 Rxa3 45. Qxe4+ Qxe4 46. Rxe4 {Get rid of the b-pawns and it's a dead draw, but White is going to win Black's b-pawn for free. (Even playing ...Ra7 won't help: White will play Re7+ and push his b-pawn until something gives.)} h5 47. g3 Kg6 48. Re6+ Kf5 49. Rb6 (49. Re7) 49... g4 (49... Ra7 {has a funny refutation:} 50. Rb5+ Kf6 51. Ra5 $1 $18) 50. Kg2 Rb3 51. b5 Rd3 52. Rxb7 Kg6 53. Rb6+ Kf5 54. Rh6 Kg5 55. Rc6 Rd5 56. h4+ Kf5 57. Rh6 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.25"] [Round "7.5"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2779"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "62"] [GameId "2214876835374218"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1607"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.08.25"] [SourceQuality "2"] {[%evp 0,62,15,24,20,15,33,15,28,28,21,18,12,23,-32,-5,37,25,23,19,27,11,29,19,39,6,35,30,-8,-22,-22,8,-37,-60,-33,-67,-168,-75,-1,-60,-72,-66,-74,-52,-55,-72,-78,-91,-87,-107,-76,-140,-95,-82,-96,-123,-90,-110,-162,-196,-131,-321,-363,-456,-578]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 e5 6. Bxc6 (6. d4 {is the move of the moment. It's popular, successful, and the engine likes it too. Here's Firouzja himself employing it successfully back in February.} cxd4 7. cxd4 exd4 8. Bf4 a6 9. Qa4 Nge7 10. Bd6 b6 11. Qa3 Bb7 12. Bc4 Nc8 13. Bd5 Nxd6 14. Qxd6 Rc8 15. Nbd2 Qc7 16. Qa3 b5 17. Ng5 Rf8 18. Rac1 Qe5 19. f4 Qe7 20. Qh3 h6 21. Ngf3 Kd8 22. e5 f6 23. exf6 Qxf6 24. Ne4 Qf5 25. Qh4+ Kc7 26. Bxc6 Bxc6 27. Qe7 Qe6 28. Qxg7 Qxe4 29. Qxd4 Qxd4+ 30. Nxd4 Kb6 31. g3 Bd5 32. b3 a5 33. Rcd1 Bb7 34. Rfe1 Rf6 35. Rd2 Rd6 36. Kf2 Rc5 37. Red1 g5 38. Ne2 Rxd2 39. Rxd2 Bc6 40. Nd4 gxf4 41. gxf4 a4 42. Kg3 a3 43. f5 Bd5 44. f6 Bf7 45. Kf4 Rd5 46. Ke4 Rd6 47. Rf2 b4 48. Ke5 Rd5+ 49. Ke4 Rd6 50. Nc2 Bg6+ 51. Ke3 Bxc2 52. f7 Bxb3 53. f8=Q {1-0 Firouzja,A (2760)-Caruana,F (2803) Chessable Masters Winners Chess.com INT rapid 2025 (2.2)}) 6... dxc6 7. d3 Qe7 8. Nbd2 Nf6 9. a4 $146 O-O 10. Nc4 Ne8 11. Be3 Nc7 12. h3 $14 Rd8 13. Qc2 (13. a5 $142) 13... b6 14. b4 $5 {The game becomes tactical immediately. It would have been more circumspect to prepare this first.} (14. Rfb1 {and then b4 avoids trouble and keeps the initiative on White's side.}) 14... cxb4 15. cxb4 Na6 $1 (15... Qxb4 $2 16. Ncxe5 $16) 16. Bd2 ({The position is very concrete. Here's a long and surprisingly plausible variation demonstrating this.} 16. a5 Nxb4 17. Qb1 b5 18. Ncxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 c5 20. Qb2 f6 21. Bxc5 $1 Qxc5 22. Qb3+ Nd5 $8 23. Ng4 $1 Qc3 24. Qa2 Bxg4 25. hxg4 Qxd3 26. Rfe1 (26. exd5 Qxd5 $11) 26... Kf7 27. Rad1 Qc4 28. Qxc4 bxc4 29. exd5 $11) 16... Nxb4 17. Bxb4 Qxb4 18. Ncxe5 Qd6 19. d4 $2 (19. Nxc6 $1 {was White's only acceptable move, with approximate equality after} Qxd3 20. Qc1 $1 Re8 21. Rd1 $11) 19... c5 $17 {White's knight on e5 has lost its stability. Black's bishops will be very effective, while White has problems on the a1-h8 diagonal.} 20. Rfd1 Bb7 (20... Be6 $142) 21. a5 $1 Rac8 22. Qb3 Qc7 23. axb6 axb6 24. Ra7 $1 Bxe5 $1 25. dxe5 $2 (25. Nxe5 $8 Rxd4 26. Rxd4 cxd4 27. Nd3 $1 {is just slightly better for Black after} (27. Qxf7+ $4 Qxf7 28. Nxf7 d3 $19 {is a giant "oops" for White.}) (27. Nxf7 $4 {loses differently.} Qc1+ $1 28. Kh2 Qf4+ {Now White gets mated after 29.g3 or a king move. That leaves} 29. Qg3 {, but now the knight drops after all.} Qxf7 $19) 27... Qb8 28. Qxb6 Bxe4 29. Qxb8 Rxb8 30. Nc5 $1 Bc2 31. Rd7 $15) 25... Rxd1+ $2 (25... c4 $1 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Qc3 b5 $19) 26. Qxd1 c4 (26... Rd8 $142 $17) 27. Qa4 $2 (27. Qd6 $1 c3 28. Nd4 $1 Qxd6 29. exd6 Bxe4 30. Re7 $1 Bc6 31. d7 Bxd7 32. Rxd7 c2 33. Nxc2 Rxc2 34. g4 {with a drawn ending, though obviously it's only Pragg who can play for a win.}) 27... c3 $19 (27... Qc6 {also maintains a winning advantage.}) 28. Nd4 Rd8 29. e6 fxe6 $1 30. Rxb7 Qxb7 31. Nxe6 Qd7 {This puts an end to the fun, as White must trade queens or lose his knight.} (31... Qd7 32. Qc4 (32. Qb3 Qd1+ $19) 32... b5 33. Qa2 Qd2 34. Qa7 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Qd6+ $19 {is one example in support of the previous claim.}) 0-1 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.26"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "E65"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2766"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "119"] [GameId "2215247400058905"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,119,18,19,10,13,9,16,-30,17,18,17,9,8,46,36,40,14,47,35,36,19,16,21,42,35,24,27,86,148,89,43,35,263,36,208,47,49,53,26,37,3,35,4,17,51,109,112,112,109,104,111,111,134,126,124,54,128,140,133,163,152,166,182,134,127,168,131,154,130,87,95,134,53,111,-32,132,103,137,130,154,149,139,125,123,145,157,168,168,160,175,131,180,169,153,134,106,115,159,92,187,114,77,73,186,120,119,159,208,174,210,75,246,407,537,367,531,536,579,214,250,517]} 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 O-O (7... cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bd7 {is a well-known but very different sort of approach.}) 8. dxc5 (8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 {is the Yugoslav Variation of the King's Indian. Black's knight on a5 is terrible, but in return there are loads of tactical tricks.}) 8... dxc5 9. Bf4 Nd4 10. Be5 Nc6 11. Bf4 Nd4 {Draw?} 12. Re1 {Nope - even with a -4 score that could have been -5, Abdusattorov can't help but fight.} Bf5 (12... Be6 $142) (12... h6 $142) 13. Nh4 $1 Be6 $2 14. Bxb7 $1 Bxc4 $1 15. e3 $2 (15. Be5 $1) (15. Bxa8 $1 Qxa8 16. Be5 Nc6 17. Nf3 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 $18 {Black has the bishop pair; it's a pity he can't do anything with it.}) 15... Ne6 $14 16. Be5 Qxd1 17. Rexd1 Rad8 18. Nf3 Bd3 19. Ne1 Bf5 20. a4 (20. Bg2 $142 $14) 20... Ng5 $11 21. f3 Nd7 $4 (21... Bc8 $11) (21... Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Bc8 $1 $11) 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. g4 Be6 24. h4 $18 {Oops.} Bb3 25. hxg5 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 {Black can and does resist, but without (at least) a pawn for compensation the rook has no chance against the two minor pieces - or at least it shouldn't.} Ne5 27. Ba6 Rxd1 28. Nxd1 Rd8 29. Nf2 Rd6 30. Bb5 a6 31. Be2 Rb6 32. Nd1 Rb4 33. f4 Nd7 34. Nc2 Rxa4 35. Nc3 Ra5 36. Bc4 $6 (36. Na3 $1 $18) 36... f6 $6 (36... e5 $16) 37. gxf6+ Nxf6 38. g5 $18 Ne8 39. Kf2 Nd6 40. Be6 h6 41. gxh6+ Kxh6 42. Kf3 Nb5 43. Ne4 Nd6 44. Nxd6 exd6 45. Ke4 $2 {A serious error, giving Black counterplay.} (45. Na3 $18) (45. Bc4 $18) 45... Rb5 46. b3 Ra5 47. Ne1 Ra1 48. Nd3 a5 49. Bc4 $6 (49. Nb2 $1 Kg7 $1 50. Bd5 Kf6 51. Na4 {and White is probably going to win this in the long run, but it might be objectively drawn after a lot of suffering by Black.}) 49... a4 $6 (49... g5 $142) 50. bxa4 Rxa4 51. Kd5 g5 $1 52. f5 $1 g4 $1 53. f6 $1 Rxc4 $2 {A miscalculation. White has a clear win after this.} (53... g3 54. Nf4 Kh7 $1 55. f7 Kg7 56. Nh5+ Kxf7 57. Nxg3 Ra3 $1 58. Kxd6+ Kf6 59. Nf1 $1 Kf5 60. Kd5 $8 Rc3 $8 {and it doesn't seem that White can make decisive progress.} 61. Kxc5 Ke4 {is an immediate draw.}) 54. Kxc4 Kg6 55. Kd5 Kxf6 56. Nf2 $1 g3 57. Ne4+ Kf5 58. Nxg3+ Kg4 59. Nf1 (59. Kxd6 Kxg3 (59... c4 60. Kd5 $1 c3 61. Kd4 c2 62. Ne2 $18) 60. Kxc5 Kf3 61. Kd4 $18) 59... Kf3 60. Kxd6 (60. Kxd6 c4 61. Kd5 c3 62. Kd4 c2 63. Nd2+ {followed by Nb3 wins.}) 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.26"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C58"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2745"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "88"] [GameId "2215247400067098"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,88,14,11,-4,-1,9,1,4,18,11,10,10,4,23,25,24,14,15,24,19,20,21,5,-37,3,7,9,13,85,5,130,-4,134,18,0,16,-24,53,-6,22,142,41,33,18,101,18,-1,-194,-16,-21,-20,20,19,28,22,23,23,14,12,38,32,70,65,74,64,0,67,76,72,61,62,62,54,102,53,46,41,72,79,43,1,-1,1,-1,-1,1,-1,1,-1,-1]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {Scholastic players and their coaches take note! It's time for a night (or at least an afternoon) at the museum.} d5 5. exd5 Na5 {By far and away the main move - and rightly so.} (5... Nxd5 $2 {isn't going to be played at this level, but}) (5... Nd4) ({and} 5... b5 {could show up for a surprise every once in a blue moon. Indeed, Carlsen played this against Gukesh last year.}) 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 {Absolutely the main line since the 2010s.} (8. Be2 {is the old main line, mostly defunct in top level chess for a few years now.}) (8. Qf3 {gets tested from time to time. Now Black chooses between the stable 8...Be7 and the fun (and good) 8...cxb5.}) 8... Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O Nf4 11. Nc3 Nxd3 12. cxd3 O-O 13. Ne4 Bc7 14. Qc2 c5 15. Qxc5 Ba6 16. Re1 Bxd3 17. b3 Re8 18. Ba3 Bb6 {We're still well within known theory.} 19. Qc3 (19. Qd6 {is no better, just more common.} Nb7 20. Qxd8 Raxd8 21. Rac1 f5 22. Nc5 Nxc5 23. Bxc5 e4 $44) 19... Bxe4 20. Rxe4 Rc8 21. Qb4 Nc6 22. Qd6 Nd4 (22... Qxd6 23. Bxd6 Rcd8 24. Ba3 f5 25. Rc4 e4 26. Rxc6 exf3 27. Bc5 Bxc5 (27... Rxd2 $146 28. Bxb6 Rxa2 $1 29. Rac1 axb6 30. Rxb6 Rc2 31. Ra1 Ra2 32. Rf1 fxg2 33. Kxg2 Re4 $11) 28. Rxc5 Rxd2 29. a4 Ree2 30. Rf1 fxg2 31. Kxg2 Rb2 32. Rxf5 Rxb3 33. Rc1 h6 $11 34. Rc7 Re6 35. h4 Rg6+ 36. Kf1 a6 37. h5 Rb1+ 38. Ke2 Rb2+ 39. Ke3 Rb3+ 40. Kd2 Rd6+ 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 42. Kf1 Rbd2 43. Rc8+ Rd8 44. Rxd8+ Rxd8 45. Ke2 Rd6 46. Kf3 g6 47. hxg6 Kg7 48. Kg4 Kxg6 49. f4 Rd1 50. Ra5 {½-½ Zaas,P (2349)-Cadenas Gonzalez,J (2348) ESP MG4/B email ICCF email 2019}) 23. Qxd8 Rexd8 24. Rc1 f6 $146 {Black has full equality; indeed, if anyone's playing for something here it's him.} (24... Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 Nxf3+ (25... f6 $142 $11) 26. gxf3 Bd4 27. Ba3 Rc8 28. Re1 Rc6 29. Rc1 Rg6+ 30. Kf1 h5 31. Rc8+ Kh7 32. Bc5 Ra6 33. a4 Kg6 34. Bxd4 exd4 35. Rc4 Rb6 36. b4 d3 37. b5 Kf6 38. Rc5 Ke6 39. Rxh5 f5 40. Rh4 a6 41. Rb4 Kd5 42. Rb3 axb5 43. Rxb5+ Rxb5 44. axb5 Kc5 45. f4 Kxb5 46. Kg2 Kc4 47. Kf3 Kb3 48. Ke3 Kc2 49. h4 g6 50. f3 g5 51. hxg5 {1-0 Prraneeth,V (2447)-Oye Stromberg,A (2288) Norway Chess op-A Stavanger 2022 (4)}) 25. Ne1 Ba5 (25... Rxc1 $1 26. Bxc1 Rd5 $1 {is nice, with the idea of ...Ra5 to loosen up White's queenside pawns.}) 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. b4 Nb5 28. bxa5 Nxa3 29. f4 Nc4 (29... exf4 $142 30. Rxf4 Nc4) 30. fxe5 Nxe5 31. Kf2 $14 {Now it's White who gets to press a little despite his ugly queenside pawns.} Rd8 32. Ke3 (32. Ke2 {was better, avoiding knight checks.}) 32... Rd5 33. Ra4 Kf7 34. d4 Ng4+ 35. Ke4 Rb5 36. h3 f5+ 37. Kd3 Nf2+ 38. Kc4 Rb1 39. Nf3 (39. Nc2 Rb2 40. Ne3) 39... Ne4 $8 40. Rb4 (40. a6 {was a better try, though objectively White doesn't have much after} Ke6 41. Ra5 g6) 40... Nd6+ $1 41. Kc5 Ne4+ 42. Kc4 Nd6+ 43. Kc5 Ne4+ 44. Kc4 Nd6+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.26"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Sevian, Samuel"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2683"] [BlackElo "2725"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "88"] [GameId "2215247400067099"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,88,18,-6,-1,21,22,7,23,5,7,11,8,13,5,2,10,11,19,24,43,24,10,8,36,14,36,30,15,8,33,-1,16,6,29,-24,20,-33,14,212,20,17,29,15,17,-28,24,-27,-33,-11,-38,-18,-29,-16,-24,-25,-1,-9,-9,-9,-9,-10,14,36,15,15,14,-29,6,1,-90,-1,0,1,0,2,-1,-75,8,-27,6,1,-35,1,-1,-1,-1,1,-1,-1,-1]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 d5 (6... a5) (6... a6) 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. a5 {There aren't a lot of games with this, but a significant percentage of them involve super-GMs.} a6 (8... Nf6 9. Nbd2 a6 10. O-O h6 11. h3 Re8 12. b4 Ba7 13. Qe2 Be6 14. Bxe6 Rxe6 15. Ne4 Nd5 16. Bd2 f5 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. bxc5 Qe7 19. c4 Nf6 20. Bc3 e4 21. Nd4 Nxd4 22. Bxd4 Rd8 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. dxe4 Rxe4 25. Qc2 Qc6 26. Rab1 Rdd4 27. Qb3 Rxc4 28. Qxb7 Qxb7 29. Rxb7 Rxc5 30. Rd1 Re7 31. Ra1 Kf7 32. h4 Kg6 33. g3 f4 34. gxf4 Re4 35. Ra7 Rc6 36. Rd1 Rxf4 37. Rd7 Rf7 38. Rd3 Rf5 39. Ra3 Kh5 40. Rg3 g6 41. Ra8 Kxh4 42. Kg2 Rg5 43. Rb8 Rxg3+ 44. fxg3+ Kg5 45. Kf3 Rc5 46. Rb7 h5 47. Ra7 Rxa5 48. Rxc7 Rf5+ 49. Kg2 a5 50. Rc6 Rb5 51. Rc8 Kf5 52. Rf8+ Ke4 53. Rf6 g5 54. Rh6 Kd3 55. Rxh5 a4 56. Kf3 g4+ {0-1 Caruana,F (2804)-Aronian,L (2722) American Cup Champ Saint Louis 2024 (2.5)}) 9. O-O (9. Nbd2 f6 10. Ne4 Ba7 11. Qb3 Nce7 12. O-O Kh8 13. h3 b5 14. axb6 cxb6 15. d4 exd4 16. Nxd4 b5 17. Bd3 b4 18. Rd1 bxc3 19. bxc3 Rb8 20. Qa3 Bxd4 21. cxd4 Nc6 22. Bc4 Ncb4 23. Qg3 Rb6 24. Nc5 Qd6 25. Qf3 Rd8 26. Bb3 Be6 27. Re1 Bg8 28. Re4 a5 29. Bd2 Nc6 30. Bxa5 Ra8 31. Bc3 Rab8 32. Bc2 Ndb4 33. Ba4 Bd5 34. Qf4 Qxf4 35. Rxf4 Ra8 36. Re1 h6 37. Rg4 Na2 38. Bd2 Rb2 39. Bxh6 gxh6 40. Bxc6 Bxc6 41. Re6 h5 42. Rg3 Nc1 43. Rxc6 Ne2+ 44. Kh2 Nxg3 45. Kxg3 h4+ 46. Kxh4 Rxf2 47. g4 Kg7 48. Kg3 Rd2 49. Rxf6 Ra3+ 50. Rf3 Rxf3+ 51. Kxf3 Kf7 52. Kf4 Rxd4+ 53. Ne4 Ke6 54. Ke3 Rd1 55. h4 Ke5 56. Ng5 Re1+ 57. Kf3 Ra1 58. Nf7+ Kf6 59. Nd6 Ke5 60. Nc4+ Kd4 61. Nd6 Ke5 62. Nf7+ Kf6 63. Nd6 Ke5 64. Nc4+ Kd4 65. Nd2 Ke5 66. g5 Kf5 67. Nc4 Kg6 68. Ne3 Ra3 69. Kf4 Ra4+ 70. Kg3 Ra3 71. Kf4 Ra4+ 72. Kg3 Ra3 {½-½ Duda,J (2728)-So,W (2754) Moscow FIDE GP 2019 (1.4)}) 9... Bf5 (9... b5 10. axb6 Nxb6 11. Bb3 Bf5 12. Bc2 Qd7 13. Qe2 Rfd8 14. Nxe5 Qe6 15. d4 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Be5 18. Bg5 f6 19. Be3 Nc4 20. Re1 Rab8 21. Bc1 a5 22. Ra4 Qd5 23. Nbd2 Nb6 24. Rae4 a4 25. Rh4 Qd3 26. Qxd3 Rxd3 27. Nc4 Nxc4 28. Rxc4 a3 29. Rxc6 axb2 30. Bxb2 Rxb2 31. Nxe5 fxe5 32. Rxc7 Rdd2 33. Rc8+ Kf7 34. Rc7+ Kf6 35. Rf1 h6 36. h4 e4 37. h5 Rb5 38. Ra1 Rd6 39. Kf1 Rxh5 40. Raa7 Rh1+ 41. Ke2 g5 42. Rf7+ Kg6 43. g4 Rdd1 44. Rg7+ Kf6 45. Rgf7+ Kg6 46. Rg7+ Kf6 {½-½ Caruana,F (2823)-Kramnik,V (2809) London Classic 8th 2016 (3)}) 10. Re1 Nf6 (10... b5 11. axb6 Nxb6 12. Nbd2 Bxd3 13. Bxd3 Qxd3 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 Nd7 16. Re1 Rfe8 17. Nf1 Ne5 18. Be3 Bd6 19. Bd4 Qb5 20. Qc2 Nc6 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Be3 Rb8 23. Nd2 Qxb2 24. Qxb2 Rxb2 25. Rxa6 Nb8 26. Ra8 Kf8 27. Kf1 Ke7 28. Nc4 Rb1+ 29. Ke2 Nc6 30. Rh8 Ne5 31. Nxd6 cxd6 32. Rxh7 Rb2+ 33. Kd1 Kf6 34. Bd4 Kg6 35. Rh3 f6 36. Re3 Kf7 37. Re2 Rb1+ 38. Kc2 Rb7 39. h3 Nc4 40. Kd3 d5 41. f4 Rb1 42. Ra2 Rf1 43. Bf2 Rd1+ 44. Ke2 Rc1 45. Bd4 Nd6 46. Ra5 Ne4 47. Ra7+ Kg6 48. Rc7 Rc2+ 49. Kf3 Nd2+ 50. Ke2 Ne4+ 51. Kf3 Nd2+ 52. Kg4 Ne4 53. f5+ Kh7 54. Kf3 Nd2+ 55. Ke3 Ne4 56. g4 Rh2 57. Rd7 Rxh3+ 58. Ke2 Rh2+ 59. Ke3 Rh3+ 60. Ke2 Nxc3+ 61. Bxc3 Rxc3 62. Rxd5 {½-½ So,W (2757)-Lazavik,D (2578) Chess.com SpeedChess Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (1.3)}) 11. Qc2 (11. Bg5 e4 12. dxe4 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Nxe4 14. Bh4 Rae8 (14... Rfe8 15. Nbd2 Nxd2 16. Rxd2 Bd6 17. Bd5 Be4 18. Bxe4 Rxe4 19. Bg3 Bxg3 20. hxg3 Rae8 21. Kf1 f6 22. b4 Rc4 23. Rd3 Ne5 24. Nxe5 Rxe5 25. Re1 Kf7 26. Rxe5 fxe5 27. Rd8 Rxc3 28. Rb8 Ke6 29. Rxb7 Kd5 30. Ra7 Rc6 31. Ke2 Kd4 32. Kd2 {½-½ Lu,S (2602)-Inarkiev,E (2693) FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Douglas 2019 (3)}) 15. Bd5 g5 16. Bxe4 Rxe4 17. Bxg5 Re2 18. Nbd2 Bxf2+ 19. Kh1 Rfe8 20. b4 Kg7 21. Bf4 R8e7 22. Nf1 Bg6 23. Rd2 Rxd2 24. N1xd2 f6 25. Rf1 Ba7 26. h3 Nd8 27. Bg3 Rd7 28. Re1 Kf7 29. Ne4 Bxe4 30. Rxe4 Ne6 31. Kh2 c5 32. Rh4 Kg6 33. Rc4 cxb4 34. cxb4 Nd4 35. Nh4+ Kf7 36. Bf2 Nf3+ 37. Nxf3 Bxf2 38. Rc2 Ba7 39. Kg3 Bb8+ 40. Kf2 Rd5 41. Rc4 Bd6 42. Nd4 h5 43. g4 hxg4 44. hxg4 Ke8 45. Nf5 Bf8 46. Rc8+ Rd8 47. Rc7 Rd7 48. Rc8+ Rd8 49. Rc7 Rd7 {½-½ Hong,A (2572)-Ju,W (2563) London Classic 14th 2024 (5)}) 11... Re8 $146 12. Nbd2 h6 (12... Be6) 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. dxe4 Be6 15. Bxe6 Rxe6 $11 16. b4 Ba7 17. g3 Ne7 18. Be3 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 c5 $1 20. Rd1 (20. bxc5 $5) 20... Qc7 21. Qd2 Rc8 22. Qd7 (22. Kg2 $142) 22... Nc6 {Suddenly White has problems with the b-pawn. He's active enough to be okay in spite of it, but now it's Black who gets to push a little.} 23. Qxc7 Rxc7 24. Red3 cxb4 25. cxb4 Nxb4 26. Rd8+ Kh7 27. R8d7 Re7 (27... Rxd7 28. Rxd7 Nc6 29. Rxb7 Kg8 $15 {keeps an edge.}) 28. Rxc7 Rxc7 29. Nxe5 $11 {Now everything's okay for White.} f6 30. Rb1 Nc6 31. Nxc6 Rxc6 32. Rxb7 Rc5 33. Kg2 Rxa5 {This is just a draw. The time control will be made and a repetition or mass vacuuming of the board (or both) is the likely next step.} 34. g4 h5 35. gxh5 Rg5+ 36. Kf3 Rxh5 37. Ra7 Rxh2 38. Rxa6 Kg6 39. Kg3 Rh1 40. f4 Rg1+ 41. Kf3 Rf1+ 42. Kg3 Rg1+ 43. Kf3 Rf1+ 44. Kg3 Rg1+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.26"] [Round "8.4"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2736"] [BlackElo "2784"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "69"] [GameId "2215247400067100"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,69,16,14,0,15,18,12,53,9,26,24,28,33,36,18,16,22,-80,21,23,22,22,-1,29,13,7,10,-7,28,32,26,-99,73,-2,25,-20,25,-96,22,13,5,-18,17,18,18,26,4,26,38,21,29,25,22,-1,22,26,-22,26,21,22,20,5,17,26,15,7,16,16,16,-22,14]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 {An on-again, off-again favorite of Caruana's for many years.} 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5 (8. Bg5 {is the (considerably sharper) alternative.} h6 9. Bh4 exd4 (9... d6) 10. cxd4 d6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 {is one possibility.}) 8... Nxe4 9. Qd5 Nc5 10. Bc2 Ne7 11. Qd1 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Qxd6 cxd6 {The d-pawn is a problem, but a manageable one. This line has been tested for years with Black doing a pretty good job of holding his own.} 14. Rd1 (14. Bf4 Bf5 $1 $11) 14... Bg4 $1 15. Be3 (15. Rxd6 Bf5 $1 $11 {It looks bizarre, but it works!} 16. Na3 Ne4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rd1 Nf5 19. Nc4 Rfe8 20. Be3 Bxe3 21. Nxe3 Nxe3 22. fxe3 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Rxe3 24. Rd7 Rb8 25. Rad1 Kf8 26. Kf2 Re7 27. Rd8+ Re8 28. Rxb8 Rxb8 29. Rd7 Ke8 30. Rc7 b5 31. Rc6 Ra8 32. c4 Kd7 33. cxb5 axb5 34. Rb6 Rxa2 35. Rxb5 Ra4 36. Kg3 Rd4 37. Rb7+ Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf5 39. Rb5+ Ke6 40. Rb6+ Kf5 41. Rb5+ Ke6 {½-½ Karjakin,S (2782)-Carlsen,M (2843) Norway Chess 6th Stavanger 2018 (2)}) 15... Bxf3 16. gxf3 d5 17. Nd2 Ne6 18. Nb3 {Black's track record here has been very good: four for four (meaning four draws).} g6 $146 (18... Rfd8 19. Rd2 d4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21. Bxd4 Nxd4 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. cxd4 Rd8 24. Be4 Rd7 25. Rd1 f5 26. Bb1 Kf7 27. a3 Kf6 28. Ba2 Nc6 29. d5 Ne5 30. Kg2 {½-½ So,W (2770)-Carlsen,M (2863) Saint Louis Blitz Lichess.org INT 2020 (9)}) 19. Rd2 Kg7 20. Re1 Rfd8 21. Kf1 Kf6 (21... b5 {isn't a bad idea, intending ...a5 and ...b4.}) 22. Red1 Rdc8 23. Nc1 a5 24. Ne2 Bxe3 25. fxe3 Ra6 26. Bd3 (26. Bb3 Rb6 {is a satisfactory indirect defense of the d-pawn.}) 26... Rb6 27. a4 Nc6 28. Bb5 Nc7 29. Nf4 Ne7 {Black's setup is entirely passive, but what matters is that it works. White's only target is the d-pawn, and Black has it covered. White recognizes that there's no way to add meaningful pressure on Black's position, and acquiesces in a mildly Blathyesque repetition. (If more than two other people get that reference, I'll be amazed!)} 30. Bd3 Ne6 31. Ne2 Nc6 32. Bb5 Nc7 33. Nf4 Ne7 34. Bd3 Ne6 35. Ne2 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.26"] [Round "8.5"] [White "Gukesh, D."] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2737"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "154"] [GameId "2215247400067101"] [EventDate "2025.08.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 c5 8. Bb2 Nc6 $2 (8... dxc4 9. bxc4 Bxc4 10. O-O Bd5 11. e4 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Qe2 Bd5 {would have been interesting. It has only been played once, in a correspondence game (and "thus" ended in a draw).} 14. a3 Ba5 15. dxc5 O-O 16. Rad1 Nc6 17. Ne5 Qe8 18. Ng4 Ne7 19. Bxd5 exd5 20. cxb6 h5 21. b7 Rb8 22. Ne3 Rxb7 23. Bd4 Bb6 24. Qxh5 Qa4 25. Qe5 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 Qxa3 27. Rg4 Ng6 28. Qxd5 Qb3 29. Qxb3 Rxb3 30. Ra1 Ne5 31. Rga4 Ra8 32. Rxa7 Rxa7 33. Rxa7 g6 34. h4 Rb2 35. Ra3 f6 36. Nd5 Kf7 37. Ra7+ Ke6 38. Nf4+ Kf5 39. Ra5 Kg4 40. Kg2 Nc4 {½-½ Zholob,A (2104)-Kazimierski,T (2080) LSS SA-2021-0-00766 LSS email}) 9. dxc5 $16 bxc5 10. a3 Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 Rc8 (11... Qb6 $142) 12. b4 $1 {Black is already in plenty of trouble. Aronian quickly recovers and starts a long and arduous defense.} dxc4 $8 13. Qa4 Qb6 $8 14. bxc5 Qb5 $8 15. Qxb5 Bxb5 16. a4 (16. Bxf6 $142 gxf6 17. Ne4 Rb8 18. Nc3 $1 Nd4 $1 19. O-O-O $1 Bc6 $1 20. Rxd4 Bxg2 21. Rhd1 Bc6 22. Rxc4 $16) 16... Ba6 17. Rc1 Na5 18. Bc3 Nb3 19. Nxb3 cxb3 20. c6 Nd5 $1 {An excellent sacrifice. Black needs to make sure everything is okay on the queenside; the g-pawn will have to be expendable.} 21. Bxg7 Rg8 22. Be5 f6 $1 23. Bb2 (23. Bxd5 $6 exd5 24. Bxf6 $6 Rg6 {is, surprisingly, very difficult for White.} 25. Bc3 $1 {Amazingly, this bit of self-pinning is the only way not to lose.} (25. Bd4 $2 Rgxc6 26. Rxc6 Rxc6 27. O-O Bxe2 28. Re1 Rc2 $19) 25... Re6 $1 26. Kd1 $1 {Likewise with this crazy move.} d4 $1 27. Bb2 $1 Rexc6 28. Rxc6 Rxc6 29. Re1 $1 $11) 23... Rg4 (23... Kf7 $142) 24. e4 $2 (24. f4 $1 {This gives up the f-pawn, but White has a resource.} Nxf4 (24... Nb6 $2 25. Bxf6 $18) 25. Bf3 Nxe2 $1 26. Bxg4 Nxc1 27. Bh5+ $1 {The key move that had to be foreseen.} Kf8 28. Bxc1 Rxc6 29. Ba3+ {This is why White needed the check on h5.} Kg7 30. Bd1 $1 Rc4 31. Bb2 Rxa4 32. Kd2 $18 {Black's three pawns aren't enough for the piece, as the b- and a-pawns aren't very healthy.}) 24... Nf4 $6 (24... Nb6 $1 25. Rc3 Nxa4 26. Rxb3 Nxb2 27. Rxb2 Rxc6 $11 {This is of course unavailable when White has played f4 rather than e4.}) 25. Bf3 $6 (25. gxf4 $1 Rxg2 26. Bxf6 Bd3 27. c7 $14) 25... Nd3+ 26. Kd2 Rg5 27. Bxf6 $1 Nxc1 $1 28. Bxg5 b2 $1 29. Kc2 Rb8 30. Bh5+ Kf8 31. Rxc1 bxc1=Q+ 32. Bxc1 Rc8 {The last key point in the tactical sequence. Black wins the dangerous passer and the position is equal. The game is eventually drawn, but there's more drama to come.} 33. Be3 Rxc6+ 34. Kb3 Bd3 35. a5 a6 36. e5 Kg7 37. Bf3 Rc8 38. h4 h6 39. Bd4 Rf8 40. Bg4 Kf7 41. Be3 Rg8 42. Bd1 Rd8 43. Bh5+ Bg6 44. Bf3 Rb8+ 45. Bb6 Bd3 46. Kc3 Bf1 47. h5 Rc8+ 48. Kd2 Rc4 49. Bd1 Re4 50. f4 Rb4 51. Ke3 Bb5 52. Bc2 Kg8 53. g4 Rb2 54. Bg6 Rb3+ 55. Kd2 Rb2+ 56. Kc3 Re2 (56... Rg2 $142) 57. Bd8 Re3+ 58. Kb4 Bd3 $2 (58... Rg3 $1 59. g5 Rg4 $8 60. gxh6 Rxf4+ 61. Kc5 Rf7 $8 $11 {keeps Black alive.}) 59. Kc5 $2 {Missing a chance to win. The following lines aren't trivial, but they're certainly not impossible either.} (59. Bb6 $1 {would have won.} Re4+ $5 (59... Rf3 60. Bxd3 Rxd3 61. Kc5 Rd7 (61... Rc3+ 62. Kd6 Kf7 63. g5 $1 hxg5 64. fxg5 Rh3 65. h6 $1 Rd3+ 66. Kc6 Kg6 67. Kb7 Rd5 68. Bc7 $8 Rd7 69. Kc6 Rd5 70. Kb6 Rd7 71. Bd6 $18) 62. Kc6 Rg7 63. Bc7 Rxg4 64. Kb6 Rxf4 (64... Rg7 65. Bd6) 65. Kxa6 Rf5 66. Kb7 Rxh5 67. a6 Rh1 68. a7 Ra1 69. a8=Q+ Rxa8 70. Kxa8 Kf7 71. Kb7 Kg6 72. Kc6 Kf5 73. Kd6 h5 74. Bd8 $18) 60. Kc3 $1 (60. Bxe4 $2 Bxe4 {and with ...Bf3 coming Black will regain a pawn and be able to maintain a fortress.}) 60... Bb1 61. Bc5 Kg7 (61... Re1 62. Kd2 $1 Rh1 (62... Re4 63. Bxe4 Bxe4 64. Ke3 {Black doesn't get in ...Bf3 and doesn't win back one of the pawns, so he'll lose.} Bc2 65. Kf3 Bd1+ 66. Kg3 Bc2 67. Be7 Kf7 68. Bf6 Bd3 69. f5 $1 exf5 70. g5 hxg5 71. Bxg5 f4+ 72. Kxf4 Bh7 73. Ke3 Ke6 74. Kd4 Kd7 75. Kc5 Kc7 76. e6 $18) 63. f5 $1 exf5 64. e6 Rh2+ 65. Kc1 Ba2 66. gxf5 $18) 62. f5 exf5 63. gxf5 Rxe5 64. f6+ Kxf6 65. Bd4 Bxg6 66. hxg6 Kxg6 67. Bxe5 {Black would draw if his king could reach a8, but it can't.} Kf5 68. Kd4 h5 69. Bh2 Ke6 70. Kc5 Kd7 71. Kb6 Kc8 72. Kxa6 $18) 59... Bxg6 60. hxg6 $11 Rg3 61. Kb6 Rxg4 62. Kxa6 Rxf4 63. Kb5 Kg7 64. a6 Rf8 $8 65. Bh4 Kxg6 66. a7 Kf5 67. Kb6 h5 {White has two moves that draw; everything else loses.} 68. Bf2 $2 (68. Kc7 $1 {Intending Bd8.} Kxe5 69. Bd8 Rf7+ 70. Kb6 Rxa7 71. Kxa7 $11 {White will draw similarly to the game.}) (68. Bg3 $1 Kg4 69. Bh2 $1 Kh3 70. Bf4 $1 $11) 68... Ra8 $2 ({Here Aronian could have obtained (or rather, maintained) a decisive advantage with} 68... Kg4 $1 69. Kb7 h4 70. a8=Q (70. Bxh4 Kxh4 71. a8=Q Rxa8 72. Kxa8 Kg5 73. Kb7 Kf5 $19) 70... Rxa8 71. Kxa8 h3 72. Bg1 Kg3 73. Kb7 Kg2 $19) 69. Kb7 Rxa7+ 70. Bxa7 Kxe5 {A peaceful conclusion is coming.} 71. Kc6 h4 72. Bf2 h3 73. Bg3+ Ke4 74. Kd6 Kf3 75. Be5 Kg2 76. Kxe6 h2 77. Bxh2 Kxh2 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Duda, J."] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2736"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "30"] [GameId "2216379791735002"] [EventDate "2025.08.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,30,20,3,13,22,36,35,33,107,31,17,19,3,24,25,18,1,81,1,2,-1,70,1,1,1,1,1,-1,1,-1,1,-1]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Be3 Qa5 9. Nd2 O-O 10. Nb3 Qxc3+ 11. Bd2 Qb2 12. Bc1 Qc3+ 13. Bd2 Qb2 14. Bc1 Qc3+ 15. Bd2 Qb2 {All theory, of course. This has been played many times (it seems to be a favorite of husband and wife Grischuk and Lagno, who seem to have used it at least five times), and it's reasonable here. Both players finished on 50%, which for MVL was enough to secure his spot in the Grand Chess Tour Final in Brazil.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Gukesh, D."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2776"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "87"] [GameId "2216379791735003"] [EventDate "2025.08.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. h3 Qe7 {This is very rare. Gukesh apparently wants to expedite the bishop swap on e6.} 9. b4 Be6 10. Nbd2 $146 {A novelty, surprisingly, but (a) there weren't that many predecessors anyway and (b) it transposed to another game.} O-O $146 {Another "novelty", this time transposing to 11 prior games including two with super-GMs who had Black. (And lost.)} 11. Re1 Rfe8 {Almost another novelty - one predecessor.} (11... h6 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Nf1 Qf7 14. Be3 Bxe3 15. Rxe3 Ne7 16. d4 Nd7 17. Qc2 Ng6 18. N1h2 a5 19. b5 Rac8 20. Ng4 h5 21. Ngh2 Qf6 22. Rd1 Nh8 23. dxe5 Nxe5 24. Nxe5 Qxe5 25. Nf3 Qf4 26. c4 Nf7 27. c5 e5 28. Rc1 Kh8 29. cxd6 Nxd6 30. Rd1 Qf6 31. Rd5 Rfe8 32. Rc5 Re7 33. Rec3 Ne8 34. b6 c6 35. Rxa5 Nd6 36. Rac5 g5 37. a5 g4 38. Nh2 Rg8 39. a6 Qf4 40. axb7 Reg7 41. hxg4 hxg4 42. Qc1 g3 43. Qxf4 exf4 44. Rh5+ Rh7 45. Rxh7+ Kxh7 46. fxg3 fxg3 47. Rxg3 Rb8 48. Rc3 Rxb7 49. Rxc6 Nxe4 50. Nf3 Kg7 51. Nd4 Kf7 52. Rc7+ Rxc7 53. bxc7 Nd6 54. Nb5 Nc8 55. g4 Ke6 56. Kf2 Kd5 57. g5 Ne7 58. Na7 {1-0 Jakovenko,D (2698)-Mamedyarov,S (2772) Jerusalem FIDE GP 2019 (1.6)}) 12. Qb3 h6 $146 {The final novelty of the game. That said, while the exact position may be brand new the structure and the piece configuration is still pretty standard for the Giuoco Piano.} 13. Bxe6 Qxe6 14. Qxe6 Rxe6 15. Nb3 {Preparing b5, which wasn't great with the rook loose on a1.} (15. b5 $2 axb5 16. axb5 Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Rxa1 18. bxc6 bxc6 $17 {This is bad for White, even with Black's doubled c-pawns.}) 15... Ree8 16. Bd2 (16. b5 {is playable now, but doesn't achieve anything. Black might play} Nd8 {, bringing the knight to e6 and from there either c5 or f4.}) 16... b5 $5 {This rules out b4-b5, but now White may go for c3-c4.} 17. Rec1 (17. c4 $2 {can't be played yet:} bxc4 $1 18. dxc4 Nxb4 $1 19. Bxb4 Rab8 {and White is in trouble. He doesn't have to lose a pawn thanks to} 20. Bxd6 {, but his position is still much worse after} cxd6 21. Nfd2 Rec8 $17 {/-+}) 17... Ne7 18. c4 bxc4 19. Rxc4 d5 $5 {A nice tactical way of handling things. The c-pawn would be weak whether it was isolated or not, so Black strikes back in the center to activate his pieces and weaken White's central pawns.} (19... c6 $11 {was passive but objectively best.}) 20. exd5 Nexd5 21. Re1 $14 Nd7 22. g3 f6 23. Kg2 Red8 24. d4 {Getting rid of his d-pawn before it becomes a target. On the other hand it leads to exchanges that relieve Black's cramped position.} (24. Na5 $14 {was better, looking to land the knight on c6.}) (24. a5 $14 {was good too, taking b6 away from Black's knights.}) 24... exd4 25. Nbxd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 (26. Nxd4 $6 Ne5 27. Rc2 $8 Nxb4 28. Bxb4 Rxd4 $15) 26... Nf8 27. h4 h5 $1 28. Rc4 Rd6 29. Rc5 Kf7 30. Nd4 Nd7 31. Rc2 {Now everything gets liquidated.} (31. Rc6 {doesn't offer an advantage, but does keep the game going (if White cares to continue).}) 31... Nxb4 32. Bxb4 Rxd4 33. Re7+ Kg6 34. Rxc7 Rxb4 35. Rexd7 Rg8 36. Ra7 Rxa4 37. Rd6 Ra3 38. Rdxa6 Rxa6 39. Rxa6 Re8 {The anti-draw rules that have been in effect in most super-GM tournaments for the 15+ years have been a great boon overall, but it still seems infantilizing to me that a couple of low-rated club players can recognize that this endgame is completely drawn and call it a day, but top professionals have to repeat moves and then call mommy or daddy to the board so they can get permission to call it a draw. (Especially absurd since the pros learn more about chess in a week of preparation than the arbiters learn in a lifetime.) Anyway, it's time for the usual, stupid ritual of manufacturing an inane repetition to satisfy the arbiters.} 40. Ra7 Kh6 41. Ra5 Kg6 42. Ra7 Kh6 43. Ra5 Kg6 44. Ra7 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Aronian, L."] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C46"] [WhiteElo "2737"] [BlackElo "2779"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "64"] [GameId "2216379791735004"] [EventDate "2025.08.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,64,23,15,25,25,14,27,21,-11,9,0,15,7,0,9,35,19,17,11,12,-7,12,35,21,32,28,10,13,-6,-23,-17,-194,-33,-17,-4,0,0,22,203,18,163,25,19,22,18,8,3,25,18,8,-19,10,-15,10,-45,12,0,27,-22,27,11,22,14,22,16,19]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. h3 {Perhaps the most common of the new, slightly offbeat-looking moves White has tried in recent years in the Four Knights.} (4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. e5 dxc3 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. dxc3 Bc5 9. Qe2+ Kd8 {This is basically never played - there's one low-level game in the database.} 10. O-O Re8 $2 11. Qh5 $16 {/+- This is a problem, hitting c5 and g5 and especially threatening Bg5. A Black pawn on h6 would prevent two of those threats, rendering 11.Qh5 harmless (though playable).}) 4... Bb4 {Equivalent to 4.Bb5 instead of 4.h3. Is there a difference here, too?} ({One point to 4.h3 is that if Black tries to play as if he were White he'll lose one of his main options. After} 4... d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bb5 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 {Black would normally play ...Bg4 (that's what White does in the equivalent position with the pawn back on h2 - or h7, in the actual version), but that's impossible here. It is possible to play Kramnik's h3 (here ...h6), but there too it's to White's benefit that ...Bg4 is never happening.}) 5. Nd5 Nxd5 {This is very drawish when White does it in the 4.Bb5 Nd4 line (5.Nxd4); does White get anything extra here courtesy of h3?} 6. exd5 e4 7. dxc6 exf3 8. Qxf3 dxc6 9. Bc4 O-O (9... Qe7+ 10. Kd1 {Here this is the main line (compare 9...Kd8 in the note to White's fourth move).} O-O 11. Re1 {Here White is fine thanks to the pawn on h3 - compare the 4.Bb5 line above where Qh5 (here 11...Qh4) is effective with the pawn back on h7 (h2 in this case).} Qh4 {and White is fine after} 12. Re4 {.}) 10. O-O Qg5 ({Or} 10... Qd7 {; in both cases the point is to park the queen on f5.}) 11. d3 Qf5 12. Qxf5 Bxf5 13. g4 $146 Bd7 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Bxd6 cxd6 16. d4 Rfe8 17. Rfe1 g5 {Standard strategy: in an endgame with light-squared bishops, put your pawns on dark squares. The game is headed for a draw, and as in the Duda-MVL game it's entirely understandable. Pragg is Black and guaranteed at least a tie for first if Caruana doesn't win, while Aronian guaranteed himself a spot in the GCT finals. It's time for the players to vacuum up some pieces, make a repetition, and call it a draw.} 18. Kg2 Rxe1 19. Rxe1 Re8 20. Rxe8+ Bxe8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. f3 Kf8 24. Kf2 Ke7 25. a3 Bd7 26. Ke3 Bc8 27. Bd3 d5 28. b4 b5 29. Kf2 Bd7 30. Ke3 Bc8 31. Kf2 Bd7 32. Ke3 Bc8 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "9"] [White "So, W."] [Black "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "2745"] [BlackElo "2771"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "103"] [GameId "2216379791735005"] [EventDate "2025.08.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,103,18,5,26,23,21,4,16,2,-8,-22,3,-2,17,6,18,10,10,16,9,19,27,14,38,38,49,63,59,119,41,35,55,71,68,148,66,151,81,103,62,88,69,72,75,82,60,76,94,-31,54,51,47,49,42,42,38,30,46,33,28,56,44,46,36,39,53,67,100,73,115,100,160,26,128,7,138,1,129,175,131,108,155,78,150,38,102,78,166,143,265,173,188,188,236,253,285,293,336,88,236,114,266,162,238,277] Two of the three games we've already seen finished in quick, bloodless draws. This won't be a third, as So needed a win to catch the leaders in the tournament and to have any chance to make the GCT finals. The latter ambition went unfulfilled, but he did tie for first on his way to subsequently winning the blitz playoff. As for Abdusattorov, he seems almost constitutionally incapable of playing for a draw, even with Black in a tournament that has gone terribly for him.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 {This is far more popular at the club level than in the professional ranks, but one has to try something. Black has been agonizingly solid (from White's perspective) against 1.e4 for a very long time.} exd4 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Nd7 (6... Ne4 {is the most common move, but Abdusattorov's response is also standard.}) 7. O-O Be7 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxd4 Nb8 {It looks funny, but it's well-known. I knew that Black was okay in this line, but I'm surprised to see that Black even enjoys a substantial plus in this variation, scoring 58% from 412 games in the database.} 10. Nc3 (10. Qf3 {often transposes.}) 10... O-O 11. Qf3 Be6 (11... a5 $1 $11 {is the main move and (coincidentally? Nah) the engine's top choice. The cool idea is to play ...Ra6 and only then ...c5; ...c5 can't be played here because of Nxd5, threatening Nxe7+ and Qxa8.}) 12. Nce2 {A reasonable idea, looking to take the bishop and (eventually) play Nf4, pressuring the e6-pawn. It also clear the way for a possible c4.} (12. Qg3 {looks good, threatening Bh6. After} Kh8 {White continues} 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Qh3 $14 {with an advantage.}) 12... Qd7 13. Qg3 Kh8 14. Nf4 $146 (14. Bg5 c5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Nf3 Nc6 17. Nf4 h6 18. Rfe1 Rab8 19. b3 Nd4 20. Nxd4 cxd4 21. h4 c5 22. Nh5 Rg8 23. Qf4 Kh7 24. Rad1 Rb6 25. Rd3 Bc8 26. Rf3 Qe6 27. Qd2 Qe7 28. Nf4 Be6 29. h5 Qd7 30. c3 dxc3 31. Rxc3 Rc8 32. Rec1 Rbc6 33. b4 cxb4 34. Rxc6 Rxc6 35. Rxc6 Qxc6 36. Qxb4 Qc1+ 37. Kh2 Qc4 38. Qb1+ Kg8 39. g3 d4 40. a3 Qc7 41. Qb5 Qd8 42. Qd3 Qd7 43. Ne2 Bg4 44. Qxd4 Qxd4 45. Nxd4 Bxh5 46. f3 Kf8 47. g4 Bg6 48. Kg3 Ke8 49. f4 Bd3 50. Kf3 Kd7 51. Ke3 Bb1 52. f5 g6 53. Kf4 Bd3 54. Nf3 Ke7 55. Nd4 Kd7 56. Nb3 Kc6 57. e6 fxe6 58. Nd4+ Kd6 59. Nxe6 gxf5 60. gxf5 h5 61. Ng5 h4 62. f6 Bc4 63. Kf5 a5 64. Kf4 Ba2 65. Kg4 Ke5 66. f7 Bxf7 67. Nxf7+ Kd5 68. Kxh4 Kc4 69. Nd6+ Kb3 70. Nb7 Kxa3 71. Nxa5 {½-½ Ponkratov,P (2657)-Sargsyan,S (2642) Cheliabinsk Kurnosov Memorial rapid 2021 (7)}) 14... c5 15. Ndxe6 (15. Nh5 $1 Rg8 16. Nxe6 fxe6 $8 (16... Qxe6 $2 17. Nf4 {in a blitz game Black might even manage to get mated quickly; regardless, he's already lost.} Qf5 (17... Qxe5 $4 18. Ng6+ fxg6 19. Qxe5 $18) (17... Qc6 18. e6 $1 $18 fxe6 $4 19. Ng6+ hxg6 20. Qh3+ Bh4 21. Qxh4#) 18. Nxd5 $18) 17. Qh3 $1 Rf8 18. c4 $1 $14) 15... fxe6 16. c4 $1 d4 $2 $16 {After White plays Nd3, whether immediately or in the near future, the play will be one-sided. Black's central pawns are all frozen, his bishop is bad, and he has no source of counterplay.} (16... dxc4 $1 {isn't a move Black wants to play, giving himself tripled pawns (and five isolated pawns in total). White does need to burn some tempi collecting the pawn(s), and his e5-pawn is a little weak as well. Black is more or less fine here.}) 17. Qh3 Rf5 $1 {A good move, both for its defense of the e-pawn and to induce g2-g4, which could in some ideal future (from Black's perspective) cause White some kingside troubles later on.} 18. g4 Rf7 (18... Rxe5 $4 19. Ng6+ $18) 19. Nd3 (19. g5 $1 Bxg5 20. Qg2 Bxf4 21. Qxa8 Qd8 22. Bxf4 Rxf4 23. a4 $1 $16 {With the idea of Ra1-a3-b3. White is clearly better, as any Black dreams of counterplay are too slow given his own back rank problems and White's ability to defend with the queen (Qg2) or the a3/b3 rook (Rg3).}) 19... Nc6 20. Bd2 Nb4 21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. f4 $14 {/? White's position remains better, and his "puffy" kingside pawn phalanx looks healthy.} Raf8 23. Rf2 $6 (23. Rae1 {was important, aimed against ...g5.} g5 $4 24. f5 exf5 $2 25. e6 $18 {is the point.}) 23... a5 $2 (23... g5 $1 $11) 24. Raf1 {Now Black's momentary opportunity for counterplay has passed, and White will gradually advance on the kingside until Black runs out of room.} g6 25. Qg2 c5 26. Qe4 Qc8 27. b3 a4 28. bxa4 $1 {The a-pawn may prove a useful diversion, attempting to overextend Black's defenses.} Qa6 29. Nb2 Bd8 30. Rf3 Be7 31. Kg2 Bd8 {Now So pulls a "Petrosian", walking his king to the queenside. This will allow him more freedom to push his kingside pawns without worrying about exposing his king to a counterattack, and it *may* also gives him the chance to move his knight away from its role as the a4-pawn's babysitter.} 32. Kf2 $2 {The idea is a good one, but mistimed.} Qa7 $2 (32... d3 $1 $14) 33. Ke2 $18 {Now everything is fine.} Qd7 34. Kd1 Qe8 35. Kc2 Re7 36. Kb3 Rff7 {Now that the king has found his new home on the queenside, it's time to get going on the kingside.} 37. h4 Rf8 38. Rh1 Rg8 39. Rfh3 Rf8 40. h5 {A pawn break, at last!} g5 41. Rf1 (41. fxg5 {was playable, but So's method is more human, not surrendering the f-file.}) 41... Rxf4 42. Rxf4 gxf4 43. Rf3 $1 (43. Qxf4 {(again) surrenders the f-file. If So wasn't going to do it on move 41, he's not going to do it now.} Rf7) 43... Rf7 44. Rxf4 Kg8 45. Rxf7 Qxf7 46. Qc6 Kg7 47. Nd3 Be7 48. Qg2 Qf8 49. Qb7 Kg8 50. Qc6 Qh6 51. Qe8+ Bf8 52. g5 $1 (52. g5 $1 Qxg5 53. Qxe6+ Kg7 54. Qf6+ Qxf6 55. exf6+ Kxf6 56. a5 Bd6 57. a6 Bb8 58. Nxc5 $18) 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Sevian, Samuel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C49"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2683"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "52"] [GameId "2216379791735006"] [EventDate "2025.08.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,52,19,-11,30,30,21,0,2,-1,22,11,-62,0,-34,12,-68,24,-132,1,11,35,28,50,57,27,-58,45,41,42,89,82,32,71,97,91,108,76,106,8,82,61,3,61,57,57,6,18,33,28,7,47,32,27,27]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 {The theme-of-the-round motif continues: it's our second Four Knights.} 4. Bb5 {Firouzja plays a traditional move rather than Aronian's 4.h3.} Bb4 (4... Nd4 {has been the most popular move for a long time, and was (sort of) the move chosen in the aforementioned Aronian-Pragg game (with colors reversed).}) (4... Bd6 {was played in Duda-Abdusattorov from round 7. White won both of these games, but it looks like Firouzja and Sevian were satisfied to make what turned out to be the third short draw of the round.}) 5. O-O O-O 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxe5 Bxc3 8. dxc3 Qxd1 (8... Nxe4 {may be slightly better and slightly more popular, but it's not such a big difference.}) 9. Rxd1 Nxe4 10. Bf4 Bf5 11. Nc4 Rfc8 (11... Rac8 12. Na5 {is a little awkward.}) 12. Ne3 (12. Na5 Rab8 {is the added resource given by playing 11...Rfc8.} ({That said, the engine prefers} 12... Nc5 {, not worrying about the b-pawn:} 13. Be3 Ne6 14. Nxb7 Rcb8 {Note that the a8-rook is useful in this line, too.} 15. Na5 Rxb2 16. Nxc6 Bxc2 17. Rd2 Rb1+ 18. Rxb1 Bxb1 {This is equal, but even here the calculation isn't finished as White can take on a7 while White's rook covers the a2-pawn. So:} 19. Nxa7 (19. Bxa7 $4 Be4 $19) 19... f5 20. f3 c5 21. Nc6 f4 22. Bf2 Rxa2 $11 {There are no further tricks or targets, so now we can confidently assess the position as equal.})) 12... Be6 13. f3 Nf6 14. c4 {From here Sevian's play the next few moves is somewhat unsteady, and White builds an advantage. Fortunately for Sevian, Firouzja seemed to have lost his ambition and the game quickly petered out to a draw. There was one earlier game to reach this position, and in it the Russian/German great Artur Yusupov ("Jussupow" in ChessBase's databases) showed how to hold the position.} Ne8 (14... Nh5 $1 15. Be5 f6 $1 16. Bc3 Nf4 $1 17. Re1 Re8 18. g3 Ng6 19. Kg2 h5 $1 20. b3 Kf7 21. Re2 Rad8 22. Rae1 Bc8 {½-½ Miles,A (2595)-Jussupow,A (2640) Groningen 1992 (9)}) 15. Kf2 (15. g4 $1 $14) 15... Rd8 16. b3 Kf8 (16... h5 $142) 17. a4 (17. g4 $14) 17... a5 (17... f6 $142) 18. Ke2 (18. c5 $1 $14) 18... Ke7 (18... b6 $142) (18... c5 $142) 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Rd1 (20. c5 $142) 20... Rxd1 21. Kxd1 c5 22. Ke2 b6 23. Kd2 Kd7 24. Ke2 Ke7 25. Kd2 Kd7 26. Ke2 Ke7 1/2-1/2 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup TB"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2784"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "65"] [GameId "2216379809028338"] [EventDate "2025.08.27"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,65,19,27,-12,24,16,9,20,8,16,28,29,29,24,21,21,8,7,1,22,-7,-26,0,-15,-1,14,15,19,4,30,29,50,55,39,-36,57,-56,-88,-83,-91,-58,-37,-83,-63,-43,-35,-27,-26,8,-10,47,45,17,36,12,12,-38,304,61,544,380,417,554,457,458,29995,29996] The three-way tie for first between Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, and So required a blitz (5'+2") tiebreak to settle things, and this was the first game in the round-robin.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 a5 8. Bb3 O-O 9. h3 b5 (9... Be6) (9... Re8) 10. Re1 (10. a4) 10... a4 {This plan with ...b5 and ...a4 is rare in this exact position, but looks good.} 11. Bc2 Re8 12. Nf1 Bb6 $6 (12... d5 $142 13. exd5 (13. Ng3 d4 14. Nh4 dxc3 15. bxc3 Ng4 16. d4 Nxd4 17. cxd4 Bxd4 18. hxg4 Qxh4 19. Be3 Bxg4 20. Qb1 Bxa1 21. Qxa1 Rad8 22. Qc3 Qe7 23. Bd3 b4 24. Qc2 Qd7 25. Bc4 Be6 26. Rc1 Rb8 27. Bxe6 Qxe6 28. Qxa4 Rec8 29. Rc6 Qe8 30. Qc2 Ra8 31. Rc4 Qb5 32. Rc5 Qa4 33. Qc4 Rcb8 34. Rxc7 Qxa2 35. Qxa2 Rxa2 36. Rc1 b3 37. Rb1 b2 38. Ne2 Ra1 39. Nc3 Rc8 40. Kh1 Rxc3 {0-1 Eden,J (2358)-Mikhalevski,V (2507) Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr Chess.com INT blitz 2017 (5)}) 13... Qxd5 14. Ng3 Bb7 15. Be3 Bf8 16. Bd2 Qd7 17. Qe2 b4 18. Rab1 a3 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Nd4 21. Qxb7 Nxc2 22. Nxe5 Qe6 23. Rec1 b3 24. Qxb3 Qxb3 25. axb3 a2 26. Nc4 a1=Q 27. Rxa1 Nxa1 28. b4 Nb3 29. Rd1 Nxd2 30. Nxd2 Rad8 31. Nc4 Re2 32. d4 Rde8 33. g4 Rc2 34. Rd2 Rc1+ 35. Kg2 Bxb4 {0-1 Vaibhav,S (2596)-Lalith,B (2506) Commonwealth-ch 2324 Melaka 2024 (6)}) 13. d4 $14 {If Black doesn't want the center, White will take it.} Bd7 14. Ng3 Na5 15. b3 {Playing against Black's a5-knight.} Nc6 $6 (15... axb3 16. axb3 c5 {was better, though White is still slightly for choice after} 17. d5) 16. bxa4 $1 bxa4 17. Bxa4 $2 (17. Rb1 $16) 17... Nxd4 $1 {Pragg did not look happy about missing this simple tactic, but soon carried on as if nothing was wrong.} 18. cxd4 $2 (18. Bxd7 Nxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Nxd7 $1 20. Nf5 Qf6 $15 {favors Black thanks to his better pawn structure. That won't matter for a while, though (especially in blitz), as White will try to whip up a kingisde attack.}) 18... Bxa4 19. Qd3 exd4 20. Nxd4 Nd7 $2 (20... d5 $1 $17 {/-+ is the problem with 18.cxd4. Here White is basically lost, and IIRC Caruana had a significant time advantage as well.}) 21. Bb2 $6 (21. Ndf5 $142 $11) 21... Ne5 22. Qe2 Bd7 (22... d5 $1 $17) 23. Ndf5 Kh7 $6 24. Kh1 $1 {Now f4 is coming. The engine calls this position equal, but with both players well under a minute this is far easier for White to play. Caruana doesn't have a chance.} g6 25. f4 $1 gxf5 26. fxe5 f4 $2 {Already the losing move, which is not surprising under the circumstances.} (26... Qh4 $1 27. Qh5 $1 Qxg3 $1 28. Qxf7+ Qg7 29. Qxg7+ Kxg7 30. e6+ Kf8 31. exd7 Rxe4 $1 32. Rxe4 fxe4 33. Bf6 c5 34. Rf1 Kg8 ({Absurdly, Black can even play} 34... Kf7 $1 {, as} 35. Bd8+ (35. d8=Q Bxd8 36. Bxd8+ Ke6 $1 $11) 35... Ke6 36. Bxb6 Kxd7 37. Rf7+ Kc6 38. Ba7 d5 {is if anything more dangerous for White with Black's three connected passers trundling down the board.}) 35. Be7 e3 36. Bxd6 Rd8 37. Bf4 $11) 27. Nh5 $1 $18 dxe5 28. Rad1 (28. Red1 {is more accurate, keeping a2 defended, but it's bad for Caruana either way.}) 28... Re6 $2 29. Bxe5 (29. Rxd7 $1 Qxd7 30. Qg4 Rg8 31. Nf6+ $18 {was the most crushing and nicest way to win.}) 29... Qe7 30. Bf6 {More cute tactics.} Qe8 (30... Rxf6 31. Rxd7 $1) 31. Qg4 Qg8 32. Rxd7 Rxa2 {Now it's mate in three, but the game was way beyond saving.} 33. Qf5+ (33. Qf5+ Qg6 34. Rxf7+ Kg8 35. Qxg6#) 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup TB"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "2"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "2745"] [BlackElo "2779"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "75"] [GameId "2216379809130739"] [EventDate "2025.08.27"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,75,6,31,31,114,14,7,19,10,8,6,10,-9,6,-10,-4,-31,35,29,24,22,25,-36,34,32,35,47,67,53,33,33,31,-3,36,80,6,11,-60,-13,-20,-18,-18,25,74,165,82,56,104,-20,64,143,102,108,239,-132,101,115,376,324,302,191,223,184,337,421,614,605,695,650,610,638,630,673,729,998,757,1084] Game 2 of the tiebreak. With a win Pragg would claim the title; with a draw, he'd force Caruana to defeat So to bring about a subsequent two-player tiebreak round.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Bg5 Ba7 {Very rare - there are only five games to reach this position. Four feature amateurs, but one involves Pragg himself.} 7. Nbd2 d6 {Back to more or less normal theory.} 8. a4 Ne7 ({This is the game mentioned in the note to Black's 6th move.} 8... h6 9. Bh4 Ne7 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. O-O Ng6 12. d4 c6 13. Re1 h5 14. Nf1 h4 15. Ne3 Nf4 16. Qb3 Qe7 17. a5 Kf8 18. Rad1 Rb8 19. Qa3 Rh6 20. g3 hxg3 21. hxg3 Nh3+ 22. Kg2 Kg7 23. Nh4 Rxh4 24. gxh4 Nf4+ 25. Kf3 Kh7 26. dxe5 Bc5 27. exd6 Qe5 28. b4 Qh5+ 29. Kxf4 Qxh4+ 30. Kf3 Qh5+ 31. Kf4 Qg5+ 32. Kf3 Qh5+ 33. Kf4 Qh4+ 34. Kf3 Qh5+ 35. Kf4 Qg5+ 36. Kf3 Qh5+ {½-½ Firouzja,A (2757)-Praggnanandhaa,R (2758) Bucharest Superbet Classic playoff blitz 2025 (1)}) 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. O-O Ng6 11. d4 h5 12. Re1 h4 $1 $146 {A good novelty, improving on his countryman's game from earlier in the year.} (12... Nf4 13. Nf1 c6 14. Ne3 d5 15. exd5 cxd5 16. Bf1 e4 17. Nh4 Be6 18. c4 Kf8 19. Qb3 Qd7 20. cxd5 Nxd5 21. Bc4 Nf4 22. Qa3+ Kg8 23. Nef5 Bb8 24. Qg3+ Ng6 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Qe3 Ba7 27. Qxe4 Nxh4 28. Ne7+ Kg7 29. Qxh4 Qg4 30. Qxg4+ hxg4 31. Re4 Kf8 32. Rae1 Rd8 33. Rxg4 Bxd4 34. Nf5 Bxb2 35. Rge4 Bc3 36. Rb1 b5 37. axb5 axb5 38. h4 b4 39. g4 Kg8 40. Re7 Rd5 41. Kg2 Rxf5 42. Re8+ Kg7 43. Rxh8 Rxf2+ 44. Kxf2 Kxh8 45. Ke3 Kg7 46. Kd3 f5 47. gxf5 Kh6 48. Ke3 Kh5 49. Kf4 Kh6 50. Kg4 Kg7 51. h5 Kh6 52. f6 Bxf6 53. Rxb4 Bg5 54. Rb7 f6 55. Rf7 Bd2 56. Rxf6+ Kg7 57. Rd6 Bc1 58. Kf5 Be3 59. Rg6+ Kh7 60. h6 Bc1 61. Rg7+ Kxh6 62. Rg6+ Kh7 63. Kf6 Be3 64. Kf7 Ba7 65. Ra6 Bb8 66. Rb6 Bc7 67. Rb7 Bf4 68. Rb4 Bg5 69. Rb1 {1-0 Firouzja,A (2757)-Gukesh,D (2787) Bucharest Superbet Classic 5th 2025 (6)}) 13. Nf1 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qb3 Kd7 $1 16. h3 (16. Qxb7 $4 Bb6 $1 $19 {traps the queen, which will sooner or later perish when Black has a moment to play ...Ra7.}) 16... Qe7 $6 (16... Nf4 $142 $11 {followed by ...Qg8 looks more natural.}) 17. Ne3 Kc8 {Shutting in the rook also seems like a slight failure.} 18. Rad1 $14 {/?} Nf4 19. Kh2 (19. Kh1 $142) 19... Qg7 20. Ng1 (20. a5 $142) 20... Rg8 $2 (20... Qg6 $1 $11 {leaves White without a comfortable way to defend the e-pawn.} 21. f3 $2 {fails to} exd4 22. cxd4 Bxd4 $1 $19 23. Rxd4 Qg3+ 24. Kh1 Qxe1 {and game over.}) 21. Ne2 $1 $16 Kd7 $2 (21... Qg5) 22. Nxf4 $18 exf4 23. Ng4 $1 f3 ({Normally Black would play} 23... f5 $2 {, but this fails to} 24. exf5 exf5 25. Qe6+ Kd8 26. Qxf5 $18) 24. Re3 fxg2 25. Rf3 Raf8 26. Qxb7 f5 27. exf5 exf5 28. Ne5+ $1 {The only move, but it's crushing.} Kd8 29. Kg1 $1 Bb6 30. a5 $1 Bxa5 31. Nc6+ Kd7 32. Nxa5 Qe7 33. Qc6+ Kc8 34. Qxa6+ Kd7 35. Qb5+ Kc8 36. Re3 Qg5 37. Qa6+ Kd7 38. Rde1 {Black's attack is completely over, while White's is about to deliver mate.} 1-0 [Event "12th Sinquefield Cup TB"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2025.08.27"] [Round "3"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A14"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2745"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "120"] [GameId "2216379809130740"] [EventDate "2025.08.27"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,120,12,27,15,2,13,9,9,0,16,25,22,6,-6,-20,-65,-16,-7,31,0,-27,-17,-26,-20,-24,-10,-7,-9,-52,-145,-77,-79,-50,-53,-63,-20,-17,-15,9,-23,-9,20,-34,-49,28,-52,-4,-40,-37,-23,39,-37,7,-26,-27,57,238,73,58,39,51,53,37,48,68,47,83,36,47,74,46,82,44,81,52,79,68,96,63,68,130,107,112,130,89,116,59,113,137,127,123,99,45,42,53,51,-33,-33,-43,-28,-36,-20,-176,48,-153,-16,-110,-64,-107,-31,-95,-69,-105,-93,-116,-97,-111,-172,-119,-179,-100,-168] The final game of the tiebreak. If Caruana wins the tiebreak there's still a three-way tie. My understanding is that So had the best tiebreak score, which meant that Caruana and Abdusattorov would play an elimination game and then the winner would play So for the title. If Caruana doesn't win, however, So wins the tiebreak and thus the tournament.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 {I assumed this was chosen just because the heavy theory of a main line Catalan (in case of 6.d4) would be too drawish for the Armageddon-like scenario Caruana faced in this game. But it seems that he has played this a few times before, including a game with the very same opponent just one month ago.} c5 7. Ne5 Qc7 (7... Nfd7 8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. Nc3 d4 10. Na4 Nc6 11. a3 b6 12. b4 Bb7 13. bxc5 bxc5 14. Rb1 Nd8 15. Bd2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nc6 17. Rb5 a6 18. Rb1 Rab8 19. Qc2 h6 20. Rxb8 Rxb8 21. Rb1 Rb7 22. f3 Qc7 23. Rxb7 Qxb7 24. Qb2 Qxb2 25. Nxb2 f5 26. Na4 Kf7 27. f4 h5 28. Kf3 Ke8 29. h3 g6 30. e4 dxe3 31. Kxe3 Kd7 32. Bc3 Bd6 33. Nb2 e5 34. fxe5 Nxe5 35. Nd1 Nc6 36. Kf2 Ke6 37. Ne3 Be5 38. Bd2 Bb2 39. a4 Bd4 40. Ke2 Be5 41. Kf2 Nb4 42. Kf3 Nxd3 43. Nd5 Nb2 44. Nb6 Bc7 45. a5 Nd3 46. Bc3 g5 47. g4 fxg4+ 48. hxg4 h4 49. Nd5 Bd6 50. Bd2 Ne5+ 51. Kg2 Nf7 52. Kh3 Be5 53. Be3 Kd6 54. Bd2 Bd4 55. Bc1 Bf2 56. Bd2 Kc6 57. Bc3 Bd4 58. Bd2 Kd7 59. Nb6+ Kd6 60. Nd5 Be5 61. Be3 Kc6 62. Bd2 Bc7 63. Bc3 Bd8 64. Bd2 Nd6 65. Ne3 Ne4 66. Be1 Kd7 67. Nd5 Ke6 68. Ne3 Ke5 69. Nf5 Kf4 70. Ng7 Kf3 71. Ne6 Be7 72. Nc7 Bd6 73. Nd5 Be5 74. Ne7 Ke2 75. Nc6 Bd6 76. Bxh4 gxh4 77. Kxh4 Kd3 78. g5 Kxc4 79. g6 Bf8 80. Kg4 Kb5 81. Nd8 c4 82. Ne6 Bh6 83. Kh5 Bc1 84. g7 Nf6+ 85. Kg6 Ng8 86. Kh7 Ne7 87. Nd4+ Ka4 88. Nf5 Bb2 89. Nxe7 Bxg7 90. Nd5 c3 91. Ne3 Bd4 92. Nc2 Bc5 93. Kg6 Kb3 94. Ne1 c2 95. Nxc2 Kxc2 {0-1 Caruana,F (2803)-Sarana,A (2672) Titled Tuesday intern op 04th Feb Late Chess.com INT blitz 2025 (8)}) (7... Nbd7 8. Nxd7 Bxd7 9. e4 dxe4 10. dxe4 Bc6 11. Qe2 Nd7 12. f4 a6 13. a4 Qc7 14. Nc3 Bf6 15. e5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Be7 17. Bd2 Rae8 18. Ne4 Qc6 19. Qf3 f5 20. exf6 gxf6 21. Bc3 f5 22. Rfd1 Nb6 23. Nd2 Qxf3+ 24. Kxf3 Rd8 25. Ke2 Rd6 26. a5 Nd7 27. Ne4 Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Rd8 29. Nd6 Nf6 30. Bxf6 Bxf6 31. Nxb7 Rxd1 32. Kxd1 Be7 33. b4 cxb4 34. c5 Kf7 35. Kc2 Ke8 36. c6 Bf8 37. Kb3 Be7 38. Kc4 h5 39. Kd3 Bf8 40. Kd4 Bg7+ 41. Kc5 Bf8+ 42. Kb6 b3 43. c7 Kd7 44. Nc5+ Kc8 45. Nxb3 Bd6 46. Nd4 Bxc7+ 47. Kxa6 {1-0 Caruana,F (2793)-Giri,A (2746) Sinquefield Cup 11th Saint Louis 2024 (9)}) 8. f4 Rd8 9. Nc3 a6 10. Qe1 b5 11. g4 $146 {This very aggressive move is a novelty - a good one.} (11. cxb5 axb5 12. Nxb5 Qb6 13. Nc3 Nbd7 14. e4 Bb7 15. Nxd7 Rxd7 16. e5 Ng4 17. Kh1 Nh6 18. Qf2 Qa6 19. Rd1 d4 20. Ne4 c4 21. dxc4 Qxc4 22. b3 Qa6 23. Qf1 Qb6 24. Nd2 Nf5 25. Nc4 Qa6 26. Bxb7 Rxb7 27. Qf3 g6 28. Bd2 h5 29. Kg2 Kg7 30. Be1 Rc8 31. Bf2 Rxc4 32. bxc4 Rb2 33. Kh1 Qxc4 34. a4 Rb3 35. Qe4 Rb2 36. Bg1 Re2 37. Qf3 Ne3 38. Rdc1 Qa6 39. a5 Nc2 40. Ra4 d3 41. Re4 Qc6 42. Re3 Qb5 43. Rxd3 Ne1 44. Qxe2 Nxd3 45. Ra1 h4 46. a6 h3 47. Qf3 Qb2 48. a7 Qxa1 49. Qe3 {0-1 Caruana,F (2784)-So,W (2745) Zagreb Superbet Blitz 2025 (18)}) 11... b4 12. Na4 $14 Bb7 13. cxd5 (13. Qf2 $142 $14) 13... Bxd5 (13... Nxd5 $11) 14. Bxd5 $6 (14. Qf2 $142) 14... exd5 $15 {Now Black is better. White's kingside pawns have fewer targets to grab hold of.} 15. g5 Nfd7 16. Ng4 (16. Qf2 Nxe5 17. fxe5 Rf8 $1 $15 {/?}) 16... Nc6 17. Be3 Bd6 $6 (17... c4 $17) 18. Rc1 Re8 19. Qf2 $11 d4 20. Bd2 Ne7 $6 {This isn't that bad, provided Black saw 21.Bxb4 in advance and something of the variation provided in the note. Otherwise, it's just a tactical error by both players.} (20... Rab8) 21. e4 $6 (21. Bxb4 Qc6 $1 ({The desperado} 21... Bxf4 $2 22. Qxf4 Qxf4 23. Rxf4 cxb4 {is awful for Black.} 24. Rxd4 $18) 22. b3 Nd5 23. Bd2 f5 $1 24. gxf6 N7xf6 $11) 21... dxe3 $8 $15 22. Nxe3 Nc6 (22... Ng6 $142) 23. Nf5 Bf8 24. Be3 Rad8 25. b3 Qa5 $5 {Not a great square for the queen, but it has the sneaky threat of ...c4 with a discovered attack on the knight.} 26. Ng3 $11 Qb5 27. Rfd1 Nb6 $6 (27... Nd4 $11) 28. Nxb6 Qxb6 29. Bxc5 $14 {Is a three-way tie on the way?} Qb7 30. Bxf8 Rxf8 31. Rc4 Ne7 32. f5 Nd5 33. Ne4 (33. Re1 $142) 33... Nc3 $1 $11 {An excellent decision. White goes two pawns up, but the board is now wide open for Black's heavy pieces.} 34. Nxc3 bxc3 35. Rxc3 Rd5 36. d4 Qd7 37. Rf3 Rd8 38. Rf4 a5 39. h4 a4 40. Re1 axb3 41. axb3 Kf8 $2 (41... g6 42. f6 h6 43. Re7 Qh3 $11) 42. Ree4 $6 $16 (42. f6 $18 g6 43. Re7 Qh3 $2 44. Qe1 $1 {This is gg, as Black has no sensible defense to the threatened 45.Rxf7+ (45...Kxf7 46.Qe7+ and 47.Qg7#).}) 42... Ra8 (42... g6 $142) (42... Kg8 $142) 43. Rf3 $2 (43. f6 $1) (43. g6 $1) 43... Rd8 $2 (43... g6) 44. Rff4 $6 (44. g6 $1) 44... Ra8 $2 45. Kg2 $2 Qb7 $2 46. Qe3 $2 $11 {Lots of mistakes, yes - it's a blitz game at the end of a long day at the end of the tournament, which was the second tournament of the back-to-back with the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz. Moreover, they're both playing on the increment at this point, and it's a tricky position. The evaluation has stabilized again and So is alright; Caruana missed the right moment(s) to break with f6 or g6.} Rb5 47. Rf3 Rxb3 $1 {At this point So was confident that he would be safe, and his judgment proved correct.} 48. Qxb3 Qxe4 49. Qb4+ Kg8 50. Kg3 Rd8 51. f6 gxf6 $5 52. gxf6 $2 (52. Qb6 {is "better", but since it more or less allows a perpetual check starting with} Qe1+ $11 {it's unacceptable.}) 52... Qxd4 $2 {Not really a mistake, as Black is better if White keeps the queens on and has an unloseable rook ending in case of a trade. But he was clearly winning after the best move.} (52... Kh8 $1 {followed by ...Rg8+ gives Black a winning attack.}) 53. Qa5 h6 54. Kg2 Kh8 55. Qh5 Rg8+ 56. Kh3 $8 Qd7+ {Now White has a lousy choice: a drawn rook ending (if Black wants it) after 57.Qf5, or a lost position after anything else.} 57. Rf5 $2 (57. Qf5 Qxf5+ (57... Qd1 58. Rf1 Qb3+ {is another (simpler) way to draw.}) 58. Rxf5 Kh7 59. h5 Rg1 $11) 57... Qd3+ (57... Rg6 $1 {eventually wins, but So can't be faulted for making an immediate draw and winning the title.}) 58. Rf3 Qd7+ 59. Rf5 Qd3+ 60. Rf3 Qd7+ 1/2-1/2