Anand and Caruana Lead in Sinquefield Cup

Fabiano Caruana took advantage of a zeitnot-induced error to defeat Levon Aronian, claiming his first win of the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. He joins Viswanathan Anand in shared first place at 2.5/4 after four rounds of play. Round 3 saw draws across the board, although it wasn’t for a lack of effort, especially on the part of Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura tried every trick in the book, and invented a few along the way, to find a breakthrough in his third round game against Sergey Karjakin. But it was all for naught, and after 104 moves, he acquiesced to the shared point.

[pgn]

[Event "7th Sinquefield Cup 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.08.19"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteElo "2743"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "208"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. a4
a5 9. Qc2 c6 10. Na3 Ne4 11. Bf4 g5 12. Be3 f5 13. Rad1 Qe8 14. Qc1 h6 15. Ne5
Kh7 16. f3 Nef6 17. b3 Bd6 18. f4 g4 19. Nc2 h5 20. Ne1 Rh8 21. N1d3 Kg7 22.
Bf2 Rh6 23. Qe3 Nf8 24. Rb1 Ng6 25. Nxg6 Qxg6 26. c5 Bc7 27. b4 axb4 28. Rxb4
Rh7 29. Ne5 Qe8 30. Ra1 Ba5 31. Rb3 Qd8 32. Qc1 Ra7 33. Be1 Rh8 34. Bxa5 Qxa5
35. Qc3 Qxc3 36. Rxc3 Ra5 37. Rb3 Rh7 38. Rb4 Kf8 39. h4 Ke8 40. e3 Kd8 41. Nd3
Kc7 42. Nc1 Rh8 43. Nb3 Ra7 44. Kf1 Bd7 45. Ke1 Rha8 46. Kd2 Be8 47. Kc3 Bd7
48. a5 Be8 49. Rb6 Bd7 50. Kb4 Be8 51. Rg1 Nd7 52. Bf1 Bf7 53. Bd3 Be8 54. Ra1
Bf7 55. Kc3 Be8 56. Rb4 Nb8 57. Rba4 Bd7 58. Nc1 Be8 59. Bc2 Bd7 60. R4a3 Be8
61. Bd3 Bd7 62. Ne2 Be8 63. Kb4 Na6+ 64. Kb3 Nb8 65. Nc3 Bd7 66. Kb2 Kd8 67.
Nd1 Kc7 68. Nf2 Be8 69. Bc2 Bd7 70. Nd3 Be8 71. Bd1 Kc8 72. Be2 Kc7 73. Nb4 Bd7
74. Kc2 Be8 75. Nd3 Bd7 76. Nc1 Be8 77. Nb3 Bd7 78. Ra4 Be8 79. Rb4 Bf7 80. Rb6
Nd7 81. Bd3 Be8 82. Kc3 Bf7 83. Rb1 Rb8 84. Rb4 Be8 85. Kd2 Bf7 86. Ke1 Be8 87.
Kf1 Bf7 88. Kf2 Be8 89. Kg2 Bf7 90. a6 bxa6 91. Rxb8 Nxb8 92. Na5 Be8 93. Rb6
Bd7 94. Bc2 Be8 95. Ba4 Bd7 96. Kf2 Be8 97. Ke1 Bd7 98. Kd2 Be8 99. Kc3 Bd7
100. Kb4 Be8 101. Bc2 Bd7 102. Ba4 Be8 103. Bc2 Bd7 104. Ba4 Be8 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Round 4 felt a bit spicier from the get-go, especially with Fabiano Caruana’s opening surprise against Levon Aronian. After plunking down the rare 7.d4, Caruana’s next moves were played quickly, giving the distinct impression that Aronian had wandered into some unpleasant preparation. Aronian survived the opening, which was tricky but perhaps not objectively dangerous, and got into a slightly worse middlegame where he appeared to be holding without great difficulties. The immense time spent wandering through the complications, however, came back to haunt him, and this blunder on move 46 gave Caruana the win. https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/status/1163947506994167808

[pgn]

[Event "7th Sinquefield Cup 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.08.20"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2818"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O Re8 7. d4 $5 {
"A very rare move... one of the remants of preparation for the World
Championship... Obviously it doesn't lead to an advantage, for many reasons.
Basically any move Black plays... because he has such a wide choice, it's
difficult... sometimes a wealth of choice is not your friend."} Bb6 8. d5 Ne7
9. Nxe5 Nxe4 10. Qf3 Nf6 (10... Nd6 11. Bd3 {and Black's pieces are jumbled,
while White has clear attacking ideas.}) 11. d6 cxd6 (11... c6 12. Bd3 $1 (12.
dxe7 $6 Qxe7 13. Nd3 cxb5 14. Na3 a6 $15) 12... Ned5 13. Bxh7+ Kf8 (13... Kxh7
14. Nxf7 $16) 14. Ng6+ fxg6 15. Bxg6 $40) 12. Nc4 d5 {Probably the best
response.} (12... Bc7 13. Bg5 Ned5) 13. Nd6 Rf8 14. Bg5 Ne4 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16.
Qxe4 f6 17. Be3 d5 18. Qf3 {"Slightly worse but tenable." (Caruana) White can
be reasonably happy with the opening. While Aronian dodged the bombs hidden in
Caruana's prep, the position has turned into a favorable IQP for White, while
Black was falling further and behind on the clock.} Ng6 19. Na3 Bc7 20. Rad1
Ne5 21. Qe2 {Caruana decides to keep the tension, avoiding simplifications
that come with trying to pick up the pawn. (Note that he probably would have
to give the pawn back anyway!)} (21. Qxd5+ Qxd5 22. Rxd5 {gives Black
counterplay:} Be6 23. Rd2 (23. Rdd1 Ng4) 23... Ng4 24. Bc5 Bxh2+ 25. Kh1 Rfc8
26. Bd4) 21... a6 22. Ba4 Bg4 23. f3 Be6 24. Bb3 Re8 25. f4 Nc6 26. Qf3 Bb6 27.
Nc2 Na5 28. Bxd5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Bxe3+ 30. Nxe3 Qb6 31. Rd3 Nc4 (31... Qxb2 $5
32. Qd5+ Kh8 33. Nf5 $1 $36 (33. Qxa5 $6 Qe2 $1)) 32. Qd5+ Kf8 33. Qxc4 Rxe3
34. Rxe3 Qxe3+ 35. Kh1 {White is up a pawn, but on the face of things, it
doesn't appear to be enough to claim a significant advantage. Still, a pawn is
a pawn!} Rd8 36. h3 b5 37. Qc6 Qe2 38. Rf3 Qxb2 39. Qxa6 h5 40. Kh2 h4 41. Qa7
Kg8 42. Qe7 Qd2 43. Re3 Qd6 44. Qe4 {Caruana declines the queen trade, trying
to keep winning chances in Aronian's time pressure.} (44. Qxd6 Rxd6 45. Re8+
Kf7 46. Rb8 Rd2 47. Rxb5 Rxa2 {should be drawn.}) 44... Qd5 45. Qb4 Rc8 46. a4
Qc5 $2 {"When you're down to a few seconds, your mind works in mysterious ways.
"} (46... bxa4) 47. Re8+ Kh7 48. Rxc8 Qxc8 49. axb5 $18 Qf5 50. b6 Qd3 51. c4
Qg3+ 52. Kh1 Qd3 53. c5 1-0

[/pgn]

For a few moments it appeared that Viswanathan Anand might also win his game against Wesley So. Anand had solid preparation against So’s sideline in the Petroff, extending through move 18. Here So erred, allowing Anand a chance at a heavy-duty advantage with 19.Bd2 Nb4 and then another Dvoretsky-esque move, 20.Qf1!. Anand spent 11 minutes on his 19th move, finding 19.Bd2, and another 15 minutes on move 20. But after looking at numerous queen moves, including 20.Qf1!, Anand played the “also (but not quite as) winning” 20.Qf3!?. He missed a small nuance on move 22, and while getting a pawn-up queen ending that looked promising, the game was drawn after 42 moves. Yasser Seirawan thought that Anand should perhaps have found 20.Qf1 in his live commentary, sketching a plausible thought-process that might have allowed Anand to discover its hidden ideas. For his part, Wesley So was adamant in the post-game interview that the whole line was “impossible” for any of the players in the event to find over-the-board.

[pgn]

[Event "7th Sinquefield Cup 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.08.20"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bf5 $5 (6... Nc6) (
6... Bd6) (6... Be7) 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 O-O 9. c4 Nc6 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. Nc3 Nxc3
12. bxc3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Rae8 14. Rb1 (14. Bf4 Bd6 15. c4 Qh5 16. Bxd6 cxd6 17.
Qa3 Qa5 18. Qxd6 Rxe1+ 19. Rxe1 Rd8 {1/2-1/2 (55) Nakamura,H (2761)-Wei,Y
(2736) Abidjan 2019}) 14... b6 15. Bf4 (15. c4 Qd7 16. d5 Bf6 17. Bf4 Na5 18.
h3 Nb7 19. Nh2 Be7 20. Ng4 Bd6 21. Bxd6 Qxd6 {1/2-1/2 (21) Sevian,S (2620)
-Nisipeanu,L (2687) Tbilisi 2017}) 15... Bd6 16. Ng5 f5 (16... g6 17. Ne4 Re6
18. Rb5 {(So)}) 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. c4 Qa5 $6 {"I kind of skimmed past [this
move] because it gave a huge advantage and, well, you assume that you'll
figure something out over the board." (Anand)} (18... Qxd4 19. Qxf5 {was
Anand's preparation.} Qxf4 20. Qd5+ Kf8 21. g3) 19. Bd2 $1 (19. Be3) 19... Nb4
{"I just couldn't believe it, but I couldn't make it work!"} 20. Qf3 $5 {
"It looks so good, I played it kind of fast..."} (20. Qb3 $6 Qxa2) (20. Qf1 $3
{Another "observer effect" move - the engine, free from prejudice and human
bias, finds this immediately, but a quiet retreating move like this is
immensely difficult for humans to see. So said he thought it was an impossible
move to find, and that he doubted any of the players could find it
over-the-board.} h6 (20... Qxa2 21. Re1 $1 (21. Bxb4 Bxb4 22. Rxb4 Qd2 $1)) 21.
c5 bxc5 22. dxc5 (22. Qc4+ $1) 22... Bxc5 23. Qc4+ Kh8 24. Qf7) (20. Qh3) 20...
h6 21. Bxb4 ({Anand had to find} 21. a3 {but he missed a key idea:} hxg5 (21...
Qa4 22. Bxb4 (22. c5 $6 Qc2) 22... hxg5 23. Qd5+ Kh8 24. Qxf5 (24. c5 $1) 24...
Bxb4 25. axb4 Qxb4 $11) 22. axb4 (22. Qb3 $1 $16 {via the computer}) 22... Qa2
{"and I didn't see it. I felt I should be close to winning..."}) 21... Qxb4 22.
Qd5+ Kh8 23. Nf7+ Kh7 24. Rf1 Re1 25. Qxf5+ Kg8 26. Nxd6 cxd6 27. Qd3 {"The
queen ending... I thought that I should be able to make progress slowly."} ({
Anand gave} 27. Qc2 Re7 {with the idea of ...Rc7, ...d6-d5.} 28. g3 Rc7 29. Rc1
d5 30. c5 Qxd4 31. c6 Qe4 $11) 27... Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Qb2 29. a3 d5 30. cxd5 Qa1+
31. Ke2 Qa2+ 32. Ke3 Qxd5 33. g3 b5 34. Qc3 Qe6+ 35. Kd3 a5 36. Qxa5 Qc4+ 37.
Ke3 Qe6+ 38. Kd2 Qa2+ 39. Ke1 Qb1+ 40. Kd2 Qa2+ 41. Ke3 Qe6+ 42. Kd2 Qa2+
1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Standings after four rounds of play: It’s the Heat Anand and Caruana have been victorious in the only two decisive results of the tournament thus far, with 22 of 24 games drawn heading into today’s Round 5. Commentators around the world have not shied away from this fact, offering all kinds of theories to make sense of it. Perhaps the time control is too long. Perhaps the players are too familiar with one another. Everyone has an answer. But if you have been in Saint Louis in the summer, you may find Anish Giri’s explanation convincing: https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/status/1163932175382786048 Will the heatwave break for today’s Round 5? We’ll update you in our next report on Friday, with Thursday being a rest day.

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