St. Louis Rapid & Blitz, Day 3: Mamedyarov & Nakamura Lead Heading Into the Blitz

There were more interesting games today as the rapid portion of the tournament came to a close. Both Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura scored 2.5/3 today (or rather, 5/6 on the 2-1-0 scoring in effect for the rapid games) while day 2 leader Fabiano Caruana finished the day a point (half a point on traditional scoring) behind after a loss in round 7 and draws in rounds 8 and 9. Round 7 was critical, as Caruana gave away a won game - and certainly one that would normally be unloseable - after committing an anthologizable hallucination-style blunder against Leinier Dominguez.

All the day's games, with my comments, are here. And here are the standings going into the blitz. (Remember, the rapid games count double, while the blitz games will be scored and counted in the conventional way. Tomorrow they'll have their first blitz round-robin, and on Wednesday the second round-robin with colors reversed.)

1-2. Mamedyarov, Nakamura 12/18
3. Caruana 11
4-6. Karjakin, Aronian, Dominguez 9
7-8. So, Vachier-Lagrave 8
9-10. Anand, Grischuk 6

Wei Yi vs. Inarkiev

Another match involving a young Chinese super-GM is afoot, this one in Russia featuring Wei Yi against Russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev. It's a mix of six classical games and six rapid games; so far, the players have exchanged victories at classical time controls. The games are here (without notes), but I recommend having a close look at game 2, won by Wei Yi. His 14.b4 launched an initiative that brilliantly blew Inarkiev away.

Ding Liren-Topalov, Game 3

A second straight draw following his victory in game 1 means that Ding Liren only needs a draw with the white pieces in game 4 tomorrow to win his short match with Veselin Topalov. Game 3 is here; note Ding's instructive defense from move 48 on to hold the draw.

St. Louis Rapid & Blitz, Day 2: Caruana Continues to Lead

It's surprising that Fabiano Caruana continues to lead by a full point (or two points, on the 2-1-0 scoring for the rapid games) after drawing three games today, but that's how it all shook out. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave closed to within half a point thanks to a win over Alexander Grischuk in round 4, but a bad loss to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with White in round 6 pushed him back again.

The games are all here, with at least a terse comment for every game and substantial annotations for the most of them. And here are the standings, given with 2-1-0 scoring:

1. Caruana 9/12
2-5. Mamedyarov, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Karjakin 7
6. Dominguez 6
7. Aronian 5
8-10. So, Anand, Grischuk 4

The rapid portion concludes tomorrow, followed by two days of blitz with the same players. (Day 1 will be a round robin, and day 2 will be a second round robin with all the colors reversed.)

Ding Liren-Veselin Topalov, Game 2

This time it's a draw, as you can see for yourself here. Ding Liren leads the four game match 1.5-.5.

St. Louis Rapid & Blitz, Day 1: Caruana Leads After a 3-0 Start; So in the Cellar

While his games weren't clean masterpieces from start to finish, a combination of strong play and resilience has placed Fabiano Caruana into clear first after a 3-0 start. He defeated Alexander Grischuk and Levon Aronian with the black pieces in the first two rounds, followed by a tough win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in round 3. He's a point ahead of Sergey Karjakin and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - or rather, a two-point lead since the rapid games count double. (They're scored on a 2-1-0 system, while the blitz games starting on Tuesday are weighted in the traditional way: 1-.5-0.)

The games of the first two rounds were exceptionally interesting, in contrast to the sleepy round 3 (mostly non-) battles - excepting Caruana-Mamedyarov. I've managed to say something about almost all of the games, so enjoy the games, with my comments, here.

Ding Liren-Topalov, Game 1

Don't worry, I'll post about day 1 of the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz next, but in the meantime let's remember the other elite event. Ding Liren and Veselin Topalov are playing a four-game classical match in Wenzhou, China, and Ding has won game 1 with Black. He was worse much of the way, but in the battle of the tacticians he outplayed Topalov in the complications to take an early lead. A further feather in his cap: Ding has become the 14th player to surpass the elite 2800 barrier. Here is game 1, with some comments on the last part of the game.

St. Louis Rapid & Blitz Pairings are Up

And you can find them here. The first three rounds of the rapid are tomorrow (Saturday, which is today for many of you as I write this), with the action starting at 1 p.m. local time in St. Louis (= 2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CET), with subsequent rounds slated to begin 90 minutes after their predecessors. Here's what we have to look forward to in round 1:

• Karjakin - Aronian
• Dominguez - Vachier-Lagrave
• Anand - Nakamura
• So - Mamedyarov
• Grischuk - Caruana

If you want to make tournament predictions (remember that there will be blitz after the rapid portion), now is the time. In the earlier Grand Chess Tour events this year Wesley So led after the rapids, and while he barely survived the blitz portion to win the first tournament he was surpassed in the blitz by both Hikaru Nakamura and Sergey Karjakin in the second. No doubt confident after drubbing Wei Yi in their blitz match, he might be more dangerous in the blitz this time around. (But even if he does, can he continue to lead the way in rapid?)

Two More Games from the Wesley So-Wei Yi Match

Here are a couple more games from the Wesley So-Wei Yi match, both featuring some attractive tactical shots. The first saw a dazzling swindle by So, the second a great tactical idea by Wei Yi. While the Chinese player should have gone 2-0 in the two games, however, it was the American who won both games. While practically everything went right for So in the match, it would be a mistake to think that these games were typical. In fact, So often outplayed his opponent straight up, but these games show that even when he was under duress he was still able to fight his way out of trouble.

Shreyas Royal to Continue Staying in the U.K.

It's just a matter of time before the U.S. lures him away (kidding), but good news for chess fans in the U.K.: super-prodigy (mentioned on this blog a few months ago) Shreyas Royal can stay in the country. (His father's visa was expiring and so the family would have to return to India.) This seems to be good news all around, but I'm confused about his status. Isn't he an Indian citizen? It makes sense that he's representing the U.K. now, as it's where he has lived since he was three, but unless his parents are endeavoring to become British citizens won't he eventually return to India and represent them? (Sort of the way pre-teen tennis-playing girls from Russia come to Florida in the U.S., more or less move here permanently to train, go to school...and then get rich winning tournaments for Mother Russia.) I know things are more complicated than that on account of India's membership in the Commonwealth, and it's also true that FIDE does not require that someone be a citizen of country X in order to represent them. But still, I'm curious as to how this will work out in the long run. Hopefully my U.K. readers can shed some light on this.