There weren't any decisive games, but it wasn't for want of effort from the players - or from a lack of opportunities. Nevertheless, all five games were drawn, and as a result Wesley So has clinched overall victory in the Grand Chess Tour. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave can't catch him, but he is guaranteed second in the tour and continues to lead the Sinquefield Cup with a round to go, half a point of ahead of So, Fabiano Caruana, and Leinier Dominguez.
The game of the round involved the two players who starred in the previous paragraph: MVL and So. Vachier-Lagrave tried an almost brand-new idea for White in the 5.Re1 Anti-Berlin - one chosen against him, interestingly enough, by David Paravyan in last month's World Cup. So could have gone for some very sharp possibilities, but as he is Wesley So and not Shakhriyar Mamedyarov or Richard Rapport, he played it safe, neutralized his opponent's small initiative, and by move 23 it was obvious that the game was headed for a draw. It took until move 50 before they reached bare kings and called it a day, but it was nevertheless the first game to finish, with some games still in the early teens (if not earlier) at that point.
Would Dominguez or Caruana catch up to MVL? Caruana pressed a bit against Peter Svidler, but the 8-time Russian champ played well enough to hold without many problems. Black's counterplay against Caruana's kingside forced a trade of queens, after which the opposite-colored bishops made the draw relatively routine. As for Dominguez, his game with Sam Shankland was equal most of the way, but the game finished in a repetition that alternated between Dominguez blundering and Shankland failing to take advantage of it.
Jeffery Xiong also had good winning chances against Mamedyarov, but a possible inaccuracy and an outright error on move 28 allowed Shakh to escape with a nice tactical shot. A pity for Xiong, who has missed more than one opportunity in the tournament. But hey, he's only 20 - this counts as "experience". He'll be back, scarier than before.
Finally, Dariusz Swiercz was better throughout his game with Richard Rapport. Rapport took chances throughout the game, with plenty of justification: his opponent is the lowest-rated player in the event, is in last place, always gets into time trouble (in this game, too), and his tournament situation demanded it. To his credit, he never pushed the risk too far, and the eventual draw was a reasonable result after a well-played game by both contestants.
The games are here, and these are the pairings for tomorrow's final round: