ALL the games in the penultimate round of the 8th Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis ended peacefully and with one round to go, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave hanged on to his half-point lead over his three closest pursuers – Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez, and Fabiano Caruana.
This also means the quartet of Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley, Dominguez Perez, and Caruana are the only ones capable of winning the championship as the others are simply out of the running. Their last round matches are very tough, though. Vachier-Lagrave will be facing top Azerbaijan player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wesley will square off with Dominguez Perez, and Caruana tangles with Hungary’s top player Richard Rapport. Let’s just hope each one will be itching to go all out so we can have an exciting final round.
At any rate, the drawn Round 8 matches were: Vachier-Lagrave versus Wesley, Jeffery Xiong versus Mamedyarov, Caruana versus Peter Svidler, Dominguez Perez versus Sam Shankland, and Rapport versus Dariusz Swiercz.
The standings after Round 8: 1. Vachier-Lagrave, 5½; 2-4. So, Dominguez-Perez, Caruana, 5; 5. Rapport, 4; 6-8. Mamedyarov, Xiong, Shankland, 3½; 9. Svidler, 3; 10. Swiercz, 2.
Xiong, J (2710)-
Mamedyarov, S (2782) [D31]
Saint Louis (8) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Re8 11.Rc1 h6 12.Qc2 Ba7 13.Rfd1 Be6 14.Ne5 Rc8 15.Bf3 Qa5 16.Qd3 Ne7 17.h3 Red8 18.Qe2 b5 19.a3 d4 20.exd4 Rxd4 21.Nd3 Rdd8 22.Nb4 Ng6 23.Be3 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Bb8 25.Nc6 Rxc6 26.Bxc6 Qc7 27.f4 Nxf4 28.Qd2 Nd3 29.Qxd3 Qh2+ 30.Kf2 Qg3+ 31.Kg1 Qh2+ 32.Kf2 Qg3+ 33.Kg1 Qh2+ 34.Kf2 ½-½
Caruana, F (2806)-
Svidler, P (2714) [C53]
Saint Louis (8) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 11.Qc2 Nxc3 12.bxc3 f6 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Ne5 Bf5 16.Qa4 c5 17.0-0 cxd4 18.cxd4 c5 19.dxc5 Qxe5 20.cxb6 axb6 21.Qb4 Be4 22.Qxb6 Rf6 23.Qd4 Qxd4 24.Bxd4 Rfa6 25.f3 Bc2 26.Rae1 Ra4 27.Rf2 Bd3 28.Bc5 R8a5 29.Re8+ Kf7 30.Re7+ Kf6 31.Rc7 Rc4 32.Bd6 Ra6 33.Bg3 Rxc7 34.Bxc7 Bc4 35.Rb2 h5 36.Bb6 Ke5 37.Bc5 Rxa2 38.Rxa2 Bxa2 39.Bf8 Kf6 40.Bc5 Ke5 41.Bf8 Kf6 42.Bc5 Ke5 ½-½
Swiercz, D (2655)-
Rapport, R (2763) [D02]
Saint Louis (8) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 Bf5 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 Bg6 6.c4 Bd6 7.Bg5 c6 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.0-0 Qb8 10.h3 Bh5 11.Re1 dxc4 12.Bxc4 h6 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Be2 Rg8 15.Nd2 Bxe2 16.Qxe2 Rg6 17.Nc4 Bb4 18.Rac1 Nb6 19.a3 Bxc3 20.Rxc3 Qd8 21.e4 Kf8 22.Rd1 Nxc4 23.Rxc4 Qd6 24.Qf3 Rd8 25.Rc3 Kg7 26.Rcd3 Qc7 27.Qe3 Qa5 28.b4 Qh5 29.Qf4 e5 30.dxe5 fxe5 31.Qc1 Rd4 32.Rxd4 Qxh3 33.g3 exd4 34.Rxd4 Qe6 35.Qc3 Qf6 36.Qe3 h5 37.e5 Qg5 38.Qxg5 Rxg5 39.Rd7 Rxe5 40.Rxb7 a5 41.Rc7 axb4 42.axb4 Rb5 43.Rxc6 Rxb4 44.Kg2 h4 45.gxh4 Rxh4 46.Kg3 Rb4 47.Kg2 Rh4 48.Kg3 Rb4 49.Kg2 Rh4 50.Kg3 ½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2751)-
So, Wesley (2772) [C67]
Saint Louis (8) 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.d4 Bf6 11.Re1 d5 12.b3 c6 13.Ba3 Nd6 14.Qf3 Be6 15.Qf4 Be7 16.Bd3 Ne8 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.Re5 g6 19.Rae1 Ng7 20.Ne2 Rae8 21.Ng3 Qd6 22.Qf6 Qd8 23.Qxd8 Rxd8 24.h4 Rfe8 25.h5 f6 26.R5e3 Bf7 27.hxg6 hxg6 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rxe8+ Nxe8 30.f3 Nd6 31.Kf2 Kg7 32.Ke3 Be6 33.Ne2 g5 34.g4 f5 35.f4 Kf6 36.fxg5+ Kxg5 37.gxf5 Bxf5 38.c4 Bxd3 39.Kxd3 dxc4+ 40.bxc4 Kf5 41.Nc3 Ke6 42.a4 b6 43.a5 bxa5 44.d5+ cxd5 45.Nxd5 Nxc4 46.Kxc4 a4 47.Nf4+ Kf5 48.Kb4 a5+ 49.Kxa4 Kxf4 50.Kxa5 ½-½
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-
Shankland, S (2709) [B90]
Saint Louis (8) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.Nd5 0-0 10.Bb6 Qd7 11.Nxf6+ Bxf6 12.Qd3 Ne7 13.0-0-0 Qc6 14.Be3 b5 15.Bb3 Bb7 16.Qxd6 Qxd6 17.Rxd6 Bxe4 18.Nd2 Bb7 19.Bc5 Rac8 20.Rd7 Bxg2 21.Rg1 Rxc5 22.Rxg2 Nf5 23.Bd5 Nd4 24.Ne4 Rxc2+ 25.Kb1 Bd8 26.Bxf7+ Kh8 27.Bd5 Re2 28.Rg1 Nf5 29.Be6 Nd4 30.Bd5 Nf5 31.Be6 Nd4 32.Bd5 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bc3 2.Qd5#; 1…Bxd2 2.Nxd2#; 1…Nc5 2.Rd4#; 1…Nc3 2.Qc6#; 1…Nd3/xe2 2.Q(x)d3#./PN
