Magnus Carlsen Squeezes out Marathon Win

After an eventful opening and round one of the Sinquefield, round two seemed less likely to provide thrills and spills. Four games were drawn in the first time control, including a sharp opening struggle between Grischuk and Mamedyarov. https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1031251165806305282 Meanwhile Magnus Carlsen nursed an edge against Sergey Karjakin, in a game that many predicted would also be drawn. IM Eric Rosen, who took over our USChess twitter feed during the round (and will be back for rounds 7 and 9), found plenty of highlights from the games and around the Central West End as the Magnus endgame grind heated up. https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1031272021328646146 https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1031284835380350976 https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1031298191168360448 The Carlsen game blossomed into a rich endgame squeeze, 88 moves long, as Carlsen finally claimed victory, bringing him to a tie for first with Mamedyarov and Aronian. Eric captured the victorious descent of Magnus to his post-game interview. https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1031340776033280000

[pgn]

[Event "Sinquefield Cup"]
[Date "2018.08.19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. d4 dxc4 8. Ne5
Nc6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Nxc6 Qe8 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Qa4 c5 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Be3
Qc7 15. Rd1 Nd5 16. Bd4 Rd8 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qc2 Qe7 19. O-O Bh3 20. Rfe1 Rd7
21. Bc3 Re8 22. Rd4 Qg5 23. Qd2 Qxd2 24. Rxd2 Be6 25. Red1 Rde7 26. f3 h5 27.
Kf2 f6 28. Rd4 Kh7 29. R1d2 Bf7 30. h3 a6 31. Rf4 Kg8 32. Bd4 Kh7 33. Bc3 Kg8
34. g4 hxg4 35. hxg4 Kh7 36. Rf5 Rb7 37. Rfxd5 Bxd5 38. Rxd5 Kg6 39. Rc5 Rh8
40. Kg3 Rb6 41. Rxc4 Rh1 42. Rc7 Rc1 43. Rd7 Rc6 44. a4 Rg1+ 45. Kf2 Ra1 46. a5
Ra4 47. Kg3 Rac4 48. Ra7 Re6 49. e4 Rc8 50. Rd7 Rec6 51. f4 R8c7 52. f5+ Kh7
53. Rd8 Rc8 54. Rd3 Re8 55. Rd4 Rc7 56. Kf4 Rce7 57. Rc4 Kh6 58. Kf3 Rd7 59.
Bd4 Kh7 60. b4 Rd6 61. Ke3 Kh6 62. Rc1 Kh7 63. Bb6 Rd7 64. Bc5 Red8 65. Rh1+
Kg8 66. Kf4 Re8 67. Re1 g5+ 68. fxg6 Kg7 69. g5 Kxg6 70. gxf6 Kxf6 71. Rh1 Rf7
72. Ke3 Ke6 73. Rh4 Rf6 74. Rh7 Rf7 75. Rh5 Kd7 76. e5 Rf1 77. Ke4 Kc6 78. Rh6+
Kb5 79. Rb6+ Kc4 80. e6 Re1+ 81. Kf5 Rf1+ 82. Ke5 Re1+ 83. Kf6 Rf1+ 84. Kg7 Ra8
85. e7 Re1 86. Kf7 Re4 87. Rd6 Rh8 88. Rxa6 1-0[/pgn]

Watch the games live and enjoy engaging commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, and Maurice Ashley on the Official Grand Chess Tour Website and follow both the US Chess Twitter and the Grand Chess Tour feeds using the hashtag #GrandChessTour or #SinquefieldCup. The Sinquefield Cup runs from August 18-28 with rounds everyday at 1 P.M. CST (except for August 23, the rest day).