THERE was only one decisive game in Round 2 of the ongoing 8th Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri, and Wesley So’s win over Dariusz Swircz enabled the Philippines-born grandmaster to join three others in the lead of the Category 20 (average Elo: 2742) single round-robin event.
Wesley essayed his pet Berlin Defense to the Ruy Lopez to smash Swiercz in 45 moves. The other matches were all fighting draws. Leinier Dominguez-Perez held top seed Fabiano Caruana in 51 moves of a sharp Italian Game; Sam Shankland and Jeffery Xiong fought tooth-and-nail for 63 moves before agreeing to a draw; Shakriyar Mamedyaro sparred with Peter Svidler before settling for the half-point after 46 moves of another double-edged Italian Game; while Richard Rapport and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave split the point after 38 moves of a Dutch System.
The standings: 1-4. Caruana, So, Dominguez-Perez, Vachier-Lagrave, 1½; 5-7. Rapport, Mamedyarov, Xiong, 1; 8-9. Svidler, Shankland, ½; 10. Swiercz, 0.
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-
Caruana, F (2806) [C54]
Saint Louis (2.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 Bb6 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.a4 c6 11.d4 Ng6 12.Bf1 Re8 13.Qc2 d5 14.exd5 exd4 15.Rxe8+ Qxe8 16.a5 Bc7 17.dxc6 dxc3 18.cxb7 Bxb7 19.Qxc3 Nd5 20.Qc5 Ngf4 21.Nc4 Ne6 22.Qa3 Rd8 23.Bd2 Ndf4 24.a6 Ba8 25.Ba5 Bxa5 26.Nxa5 Qd7 27.Re1 Qd5 28.Re3 Qf5 29.Nb7 Rd1 30.Re1 Rxe1 31.Nxe1 Qe4 32.Nf3 Bxb7 33.axb7 Qxb7 34.g3 Nh5 35.Bc4 Qe4 36.Bxe6 fxe6 37.Nd2 Qd4 38.Nf3 Qd5 39.Nh2 a5 40.Ng4 Nf6 41.Nxf6+ gxf6 42.Qe7 Qe5 43.b3 h5 44.h4 Qe1+ 45.Kg2 Qe4+ 46.Kh2 Qf5 47.Qe8+ Kg7 48.Qe7+ Kg6 49.Qe8+ Kg7 50.Qe7+ Kg6 51.Qe8+ Kg7 ½-½
Shankland, S (2709)-
Xiong, J (2710) [B38]
Saint Louis (2.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Be2 Nh5 10.g3 Nf6 11.Qd2 Bd7 12.0-0-0 a5 13.g4 a4 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.h4 Qa5 16.Bd4 Rfc8 17.h5 a3 18.b3 b5 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.Kb1 bxc4 21.Bxc4 Bb7 22.g5 Nh5 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Nd5 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 Rab8 26.Rc1 Bxd5 27.Rxd5 Nf4 28.Ra5 Ra8 29.b4 f6 30.Rxa8 Rxa8 31.Kc2 fxg5 32.Kb3 Kf6 33.b5 Ke5 34.Kb4 g4 35.fxg4 Kxe4 36.Re1+ Kd4 37.Rxe7 Rc8 38.Bf7 Nd3+ 39.Kxa3 Ra8+ 40.Kb3 Nc5+ 41.Kb2 Nd3+ 42.Kb3 Nc5+ 43.Kc2 d5 44.Kb1 Na4 45.Kc1 Nc3 46.b6 Nxa2+ 47.Kd2 Rb8 48.b7 Nb4 49.Be6 Kc5 50.Bc8 Nc6 51.Rg7 g5 52.Ke3 Na5 53.Kd3 Kd6 54.Rd7+ 54.Rd7+ Kc6 55.Kd4 Nxb7 56.Rxb7 Rxc8 57.Rg7 Kd6 58.Rg6+ Ke7 59.Rxg5 Kf6 60.Rxd5 Re8 61.g5+ Kg6 62.Re5 Rxe5 63.Kxe5 Kxg5 ½-½
Swiercz, D (2655-
So, Wesley (2772) [C67]
Saint Louis (2.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Bd7 10.Rd1 Be7 11.g4 Nh4 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.Nd2 Kc8 14.Nf3 Be7 15.Bg5 Bc5 16.Rd3 Be6 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.Rxe3 Kd7 19.Nd4 Rad8 20.f4 Ke7 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Rf1 h5 23.f5 hxg4 24.hxg4 Rh4 25.f6+ Kf7 26.Re4 Rd2 27.fxg7+ Kxg7 28.Rf2 Rxf2 29.Kxf2 Rh2+ 30.Kf3 Rxc2 31.Rd4 Rxb2 32.Rd7+ Kg6 33.Rxc7 c5 34.Re7 Rb6 35.Rc7 a6 36.Rxc5 Rc6 37.Ra5 Rc3+ 38.Ke4 Rc4+ 39.Kd3 Rxg4 40.Rc5 Kf5 41.Kc3 b5 42.Kb3 Rc4 43.Rxc4 bxc4+ 44.Kxc4 Kxe5 45.a4 Kf4 0-1
Rapport, R (2763)-
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2751) [E60]
Saint Louis (2.4) 2021
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0-0 7.Nc3 Qc7 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.0-0 d6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.Bg5 Rb8 13.b3 h6 14.Bd2 Nf6 15.Rac1 a5 16.h3 Rd8 17.e4 Nd7 18.Rfd1 Nc5 19.Qe2 e5 20.Kh2 Kh7 21.Qf1 h5 22.Bg5 Re8 23.Qe1 Ne6 24.Bd2 Ra8 25.Be3 h4 26.Na4 hxg3+ 27.fxg3 c5 28.Qd2 Nd4 29.Rf1 Be6 30.Rf2 Reb8 31.h4 Qd7 32.Rcf1 Ra7 33.Qd1 Bg4 34.Qd2 Be6 35.Qd1 Bg4 36.Qd2 Be6 ½-½
Svidler, P (2714)-
Mamedyarov, S (2782) [C54]
Saint Louis (2.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.b4 Be7 7.0-0 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1 Bf6 10.Ba3 Re8 11.Nbd2 Nxc3 12.Qb3 Be6 13.Bxe6 Rxe6 14.b5 Nd4 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Rxe6 fxe6 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.Re1 Nxb5 19.Be7 Bxe7 20.Qxe7 Qxe7 21.Rxe7 b6 22.Ne4 c5 23.Kf1 Nc3 24.Nxc3 dxc3 25.Ke2 h6 26.Kd1 b5 27.Rc7 Rf8 28.f3 Rf5 29.Rxa7 Re5 30.a3 Re3 31.Rb7 Rxd3+ 32.Kc2 Rd2+ 33.Kxc3 Rxg2 34.Rxb5 Rxh2 35.Rxc5 Rf2 36.Rf5 g6 37.Rf4 Kg7 38.Kd3 g5 39.Ke3 Ra2 40.Ra4 h5 41.Ra7+ Kg6 42.Ra6+ Kf5 43.Ra5+ Kg6 44.Ra6+ Kf5 45.Ra5+ Kg6 46.Ra6+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd5, Nf7 2.Q(x)d5#; 1…Nc5 2.Qxc5#; 1…Ng4, Qxg6 2.Rd1#; 1…Re4 2.Nc2#./PN
