AFTER a rest day, you’d think the participants of the 8th Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis would go at each other hammer and tongs in Round 6. Well, they did, sort of, but all the games – while far from being dull – all ended in draws and that also meant the standings remain unchanged.
Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez-Perez, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave thus kept the joint leadership of the Category 20 (average Elo: 2742) single round-robin event with three crucial rounds to go. Wesley drew with a tough Jeffery Xiong, Dominguez-Perez split the point with Peter Svidler, while Vachier-Lagrave held top seed Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces. The two other Round 6 matches were also drawn, with underdogs Sam Shankland and Dariusz Swiercz fending off Richard Rapport and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, respectively.
The standings after Round 6: 1-3. So, Dominguez-Perez, Vachier-Lagrave, 4; 4. Caruana, 3½; 5-7. Mamedyarov, Rapport, Xiong, 3; 8. Shankland, 2½; 9-10. Svidler, Swiercz, 1½.
Caruana, F (2806)-
Vachier-Lagrave,M (2751) [B90]
Saint Louis (6) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 Nb6 14.Na5 Rc8 15.a3 g6 16.h4 Ng3 17.Rg1 Nxf1 18.Rgxf1 Na4 19.Nxa4 bxa4 20.h5 Qc7 21.Rh1 Rfe8 22.Qh2 Bf8 23.c4 Re7 24.Bd2 Bxc4 25.Bb4 Rd7 26.f4 Bb5 27.hxg6 fxg6 28.f5 Rg7 29.f6 Rf7 30.Qd2 Qd7 31.Qd5 Be2 32.Rc1 Rxc1+ 33.Rxc1 h5 34.Nc4 Bxc4 35.Rxc4 h4 36.Rc2 h3 37.Ka2 Kh8 38.Rd2 Rh7 39.Bxd6 Qxd6 40.Qxd6 Bxd6 41.Rxd6 Kg8 42.Rd8+ Kf7 43.Rd7+ Kg8 44.Rd8+ Kf7 45.Rd7+ Kg8 46.Rd8+ ½-½
Dominguez-Perez, L (2758)-
Svidler,P (2714) [C53]
Saint Louis (6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Qe7 8.0-0 a6 9.b4 Ba7 10.Nbd2 g5 11.Bg3 Nh7 12.a4 h5 13.h4 g4 14.Ne1 Nf8 15.Nc2 Ng6 16.Ne3 Be6 17.b5 Nd8 18.d4 Nxh4 19.dxe5 dxe5 20.Bxe5 0-0 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Bd4 c5 23.bxc6 Nxc6 24.Bxa7 Rxa7 25.Ndc4 Rd8 26.Qb3 Raa8 27.Rfd1 Kh8 28.Rab1 Rxd1+ 29.Qxd1 Rd8 30.Qb3 Ng6 31.Rb2 Rd7 32.Nb6 Rd8 33.Nbc4 Rd7 34.Nb6 Rd8 35.Nbc4 Rd7 ½-½
Xiong, J (2710)-
So, Wesley (2772) [D02]
Saint Louis (6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Nbd2 0-0 6.Bd3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.c4 b6 10.Rc1 Bb7 11.Qe2 Rc8 12.Rfd1 Qe7 13.cxd5 e5 14.Bg5 Bxd5 15.Ba6 Rcd8 16.Nc4 Bc6 17.a3 h6 18.Bh4 Ba4 19.Re1 e4 20.Nd4 Bxd4 21.exd4 Nb8 22.Ne3 Nxa6 23.Qxa6 Qd7 24.Qc4 Rc8 25.Qb4 Nh5 26.Bg3 Bc6 27.d5 Bb7 28.Qxe4 Nf6 29.Qd3 Nxd5 30.Rxc8 Rxc8 31.Nf5 Re8 32.Rxe8+ Qxe8 33.h3 Qd7 34.Bb8 Bc6 35.Bg3 Nf6 36.Qxd7 Bxd7 37.Nd4 Nd5 38.Kf1 Ne7 39.Bb8 a6 40.Bc7 b5 41.Ke2 f6 42.Kd3 Kf7 43.Ke4 g6 44.f3 Nf5 45.Nxf5 Bxf5+ 46.Kd4 b4 47.axb4 h5 48.g4 Bd7 49.Ke3 hxg4 50.hxg4 f5 51.gxf5 Bxf5 52.Kd4 Bd7 53.Ke3 Bf5 54.Kd4 Be6 55.Ke3 Bf5 56.Kd4 ½-½
Shankland, S (2709)-
Rapport, R (2763) [C45]
Saint Louis (6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Qe2 Qf6 7.Nc3 Nge7 8.h4 d6 9.Bg5 Qe6 10.0-0-0 Bd7 11.Qd2 0-0-0 12.f3 h6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 Kb8 15.Bb5 f5 16.Qd2 fxe4 17.Rhe1 Qg6 18.Rxe4 a6 19.Bf1 Rhe8 20.Rde1 Nf5 21.Bd3 Rxe4 22.Bxe4 Qg3 23.h5 Re8 24.Nd5 Qg5 25.Qxg5 hxg5 26.Kd2 Ng3 27.Bg6 Rh8 28.f4 gxf4 29.Nxf4 Ne5 30.Nc1 Bc6 31.Ncd3 Nxh5 32.Bxh5 Nxd3 33.Kxd3 g5 34.Bf3 gxf4 35.Bxc6 bxc6 36.Re2 d5 37.Rf2 Rg8 38.Kd4 Rg5 39.Kc5 Kb7 40.Rxf4 Rxg2 41.Rb4+ Kc8 42.Kxc6 Rxc2+ 43.Kxd5 Rd2+ 44.Kc6 Rc2+ 45.Kd5 Rd2+ 46.Kc6 Rc2+ 47.Kd5 ½-½
Swiercz, D (2655)-
Mamedyarov, S (2782) [C67]
Saint Louis (6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re1 Nf6 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.d4 b6 14.Qg4 Bb7 15.Bd3 h6 16.Bd2 c5 17.Bc3 Qf4 18.Qxf4 Bxf4 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.Be5 Bxe5 21.Rxe5 d6 22.Re7 Bd5 23.Rd1 Bxa2 24.b3 d5 25.Bb5 c4 26.Ba4 Rab8 27.Rxa7 Rfd8 28.bxc4 Bxc4 29.h3 Rb2 30.Rc7 Rdb8 31.Bb3 Bxb3 32.cxb3 R2xb3 33.Rxd5 R3b7 34.Rdd7 Rxc7 35.Rxc7 g5 36.g4 Kg7 37.Kg2 Kg6 38.Rc6+ Kg7 39.Rc7 Kg6 40.Rc6+ Kg7 41.Rc7 Kg6 42.Rc6+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nc6/b5/xf5/b3/c2/e2, Rxe5 2.Qh6#; 1…Ne6 2.fxe6#; 1…Nf3, Re3/e2/e1 2.Nd3#; 1…g3 2.hxg3#; 1…Nd3/h3/d1/h1 2.Rxg4#./PN
