Sinquefield Cup Round 2: “It hurts!”

“It hurts!” commented Ian Nepomniachtchi after missing a knockout blow against Fabiano Caruana, though it was much harder to see than the tactic he’d blundered a day earlier against Vishy Anand. Anish Giri also had good chances of beating Levon Aronian in an endgame, but nothing could stop all games ending drawn in Round 2 of the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. That meant Vishy, who found a clever way to dodge Magnus Carlsen’s opening surprise, is still the sole leader.

All games were drawn in Round 2 of the Sinquefield Cup, but the only one that saw anything less than a full-blooded fight was Karjakin-Ding Liren. It was only on move 23 of a Marshall that Sergey Karjakin varied from the 23.Qxf5 that Wesley So had played against Ding Liren in the 2018 Berlin Candidates with 23.Ra5. It seemed Sergey’s new move worked well, but he took a draw by repetition in a position where the computers were claiming a healthy edge for White.