Firouzja, MVL miss wins @ Sinquefield Cup
French Grandmaster Alireza Firourzja missed a possible win against world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, so did fellow French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave against Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the 6th round of the Sinquefield Cup at the University Club Tower, Richmond Heights, Missouri, USA. Even as the event moved out of it’s day of break, fully rested players missed some great opportunities.
Another round of all draws saw leader Fabiano Caruana remain on top of the table with 4.0 points half a point ahead of GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu & Levon Aronian at 3.5 points. Three more rounds remain in the Sinquefield Cup 2025 that carries a prize fund of $350,000 along with GCT circuit points leading up-to the year end GCT grand finals to be held at Sao Paulo, Brazil.
World champion Gukesh Dommaraju survived with some Herculean defense averting defeat against Iranian-French Grandmaster Alireza Firourzja securing himself a crucial half point.
Showing resilience that was exemplary, Gukesh saved a difficult position against defending champion Firouzja. Sicilian Defense Najdorf Variation games have always offered great excitement and today’s duel was no different. Fresh and energized from the rest day, Gukesh was all aggression from the opening phase. A slight Gukesh inaccuracy arriving into the middle-game saw black grabbing the initiative. Further liquidation after the first time control, improved Gukesh’s chances to hold fort. With a loss staring on the face, Gukesh came up with some resolute play thwarting Firouzja’s chances. The 78 move see-saw battle ended after more than five hours of fighting chess. The youngest World Champion in the history of chess, would now need to up the ante, since only a title win here would take the Indian to the GCT grand finals in Brazil.
The second Frenchman on the rolls, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave missed another win, his third slip in this tournament, when he allowed bottom placed Nodirbek Abdusattorov to squeak out. Tournament leader Fabiano Caruana escaped with a draw since fellow American Samuel Sevian failed to press on holding an advantageous position. The draw with black pieces suited Caruana since the position on hand looked going out of hand, when Sevian bailed out with a threefold repetition. Games between Duda vs Pragg and Aronian vs So also ended in draws.
The seventh round starts by Monday, 25th August at 1:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM CEST / 11 PM IST.
Image courtesy: Grand Chess Tour / Saint Louis Chess Club
Pairings (Round 7): Caruana – Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave – Sevian, So – Gukesh, Duda – Abdusattorov, Firouzja – Pragg
Results (Round 6): Abdusattorov Nodirbek (1.5) drew with Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (3.0), Gukesh Dommaraju (3.0) drew with Firouzja Alireza (3.0), Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2.5) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5), Sevian Samuel (3.0) drew with Caruana Fabiano (4.0), Aronian Levon (3.5) drew with So Wesley (3.0)
Sevian Samuel (2683) – Caruana Fabiano (2784) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Bf5 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. e3 g5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Rc1 Ne4 12. Nd2 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxd2 14. Kxd2 a6 15. h4 b5 16. Qa3 g4 17. Qc5 Qd7 18. f3 Rfe8 19. Bf4 h5 20. Be2 Rac8 21. e4 dxe4 22. fxg4 Bxg4 23. Qg5+ Kh7 24. Qh6+ Kg8 25. Qg5+ Kh7 26. Qh6+ Kg8 27. Qg5+
27…Kh7 1/2-1/2
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2779) – Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2725) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. a3 b6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bb7 8. Nd2 Nc6 9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Bf4 Nf5 12. h4 Be7 13. Bd3 g6 14. Bxf5 gxf5 15. Nd4 Qc7 16. Qh5 Bf6 17. Nxc6 dxc6 18. O-O-O Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Rhe1 Qf6 21. Rd6 O-O 22. Rxc6 Rac8 23. Rd6 Rxc3+ 24. bxc3 Qxc3+ 25. Kd1 Qa1+ 26. Ke2 Qe5+ 27. Kf1 Qxd6 28. Qg5+ Kh8 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Qg5+ Kh8 31. Qf6+ Kg8 32. Qg5+ 1/2-1/2
Pictures courtesy: Grand Chess Tour / Saint Louis Chess Club
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