AMERICAN grandmaster Jeffery Xiong shocked top seed Fabiano Caruana in Round 5 action of the ongoing 8th Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri, to clip the leaderboard of the Category 20 (average Elo: 2742) single round-robin event to just three.
The loss dropped Caruana in fourth place, half-a-point behind Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, whom each has 3½. Vachier-Lagrave joined the leaderboard after beating Dariuz Swiercz in 47 moves of an Italian Game in the only other decisive game of the round.
Wesley had a short 17-move draw with Richard Rapport, while the matches Dominguez Perez versus Shakriyar Mamedyarov; and Peter Svidler versus Sam Shankland were likewise drawn.
The standings after Round 5: 1-3. So, Dominguez-Perez, Vachier-Lagrave, 3½; 4. Caruana, 3; 5-7. Mamedyarov, Rapport, Xiong, 2½; 8. Shankland, 2; 9-10. Svidler, Swiercz, 1.
Svidler, P (2714)-
Shankland, S (2709) [B90]
Saint Louis (5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nde2 Be6 8.0-0 Nc6 9.f4 exf4 10.Nxf4 Ne5 11.a4 g6 12.Be2 Bg7 13.Be3 0-0 14.a5 Rc8 15.Ra4 Re8 16.h3 Qe7 17.Bd4 h5 18.Qe1 Bd7 19.Nfd5 Nxd5 20.Nxd5 Qe6 21.Nf4 Qe7 22.Nd5 Qe6 23.Nf4 Qe7 24.Nd5 ½-½
Vachier Lagrave, M (2751)-
Swiercz, D (2655) [C53]
Saint Louis (5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 Bg4 9.Nbd2 Nb6 10.h3 Bh5 11.Bb3 Kh8 12.Ne4 Nd7 13.Bd5 Bb6 14.Ng3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 f5 16.d4 f4 17.Ne4 Qh4 18.Nd2 exd4 19.Nc4 Rad8 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Bd2 Nf6 22.Nxb6 cxb6 23.cxd4 c5 24.Re7 Rxd4 25.Bc3 Nd5 26.Rxa7 Nxc3 27.bxc3 Rdd8 28.Re1 c4 29.Re4 b5 30.a4 Rd3 31.Qxf4 Qxf4 32.Rxf4 Rg8 33.axb5 Rxc3 34.Rc7 Rb3 35.Rc5 c3 36.Rfc4 h6 37.Rxc3 Rb1+ 38.Kh2 Kh7 39.Rg3 Rb2 40.f4 g6 41.f5 g5 42.Rd3 Re8 43.Rd7+ Kg8 44.Rc6 Rxb5 45.Rg6+ Kf8 46.Rxh6 Kg8 47.f6 1-0
Mamedyarov, S (2782)-
Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [D27]
Saint Louis (5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 a6 6.0-0 c5 7.Re1 Nc6 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.Nc3 0-0 11.Ne5 Nxd4 12.Bf4 Nf5 13.Qc2 Nd4 14.Qd1 Nf5 15.Qf3 Nh4 16.Qh3 Nd5 17.Bg3 Ng6 18.Rad1 Bf6 19.Bb1 Qb6 20.Qh5 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Bxe5 22.Bxe5 Rd8 23.h4 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Bd7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Bxg6 hxg6 27.Qe5+ Kg8 28.Rxd7 Rd8 29.Re7 Qb1+ 30.Kh2 Qf5 31.Qxf5 exf5 32.Rxb7 Rd2 33.f3 Rxa2 34.Ra7 Rc2 35.Rxa6 Rxc3 36.Ra8+ Kg7 37.Ra6 Kg8 38.Ra8+ Kg7 39.Ra6 Kg8 ½-½
Xiong, J (2710)-
Caruana, F (2806) [A08]
Saint Louis (5) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 e5 7.Nb3 a5 8.Bg5 a4 9.Nc1 Be6 10.e4 d4 11.f4 Be7 12.Nd3 Nc6 13.Bf3 Nd7 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.Nd2 b5 16.b3 f6 17.Bh5+ g6 18.f5 Bf7 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.Bg4 Be6 21.Bxe6 Qxe6 22.Nf3 g5 23.Qe2 Nd8 24.Nb4 Rb8 25.Nd5 0-0 26.h4 Nf7 27.hxg5 fxg5 28.Rf2 Nb6 29.Qxb5 Nxd5 30.Qxd5 Qxd5 31.exd5 axb3 32.axb3 d3 33.cxd3 Rxb3 34.Ra6 Rd8 35.Rg6+ Kh7 36.Rf6 Rxd3 1-0
So, W (2772-
Rapport, R (2763) [C67]
Saint Louis USA (5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nf5 8.c3 Nxe5 9.Rxe5 d6 10.Re1 0-0 11.d4 d5 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Qf3 Nh4 14.Qe3 Nf5 15.Qf3 Nh4 16.Qg3 Nf5 17.Qf3 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ba8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qb8/xa8 2.Qxg7#; 1…Nxc3 2.Qa7#; 1…bxc3 2.Qxa4#; 1…Kxc3 2.Be5#; 1…Bxc3 2.Qg4#./PN
