Carlsen to escape with a draw
Mark Crowther - Friday 5th September 2014
Fabiano Caruana won the Sinquefield Cup with two rounds to spare after
an exciting draw with Magnus Carlsen. However the draw brought to an
end his amazing winning streak at 7 yet for much of the game he seemed
on course to extend it. An amazing tournament result for Caruana
and he will want to see out the rest of the tournament at least undefeated
to complete the job. It's a shame really that the Caruana winning streak ended
as there's really very little left to gain for anyone in the tournament.
Carlsen came out fighting with the Sicilian Defence but his 10... a5 was already leaving commentators wondering if he might be in trouble as they couldn't really see where Carlsen's counter-play was coming from. Interesting moments: 15.Nb5!? (15.Nd5 Kasparov and others) 15...a3!? may have objectively a bit dubious, 17.h4!? (17.0-0 was very safe for white) 20...Bc6 was another risky decision. 26.0-0 was criticised by many onlookers as losing much of white's advantage, the engines then spiked indicating a further opportunity for Caruana on Carlsen's 28...Nb6 but already Caruana was starting to have time troubles and he didn't play the 29.Rfd1 that was recommended and after 32...Ne3 the game was already heading for a drawish ending and the draw was agreed on move 42. A game of very high tension even if we perhaps did not see the best of either player. We also saw strange things in the Candidates earlier in the year. We need to be looking to create events with more at stake and more tension.
Levon Aronian's miserable tournament continued when he failed to convert an overwhelming advantage when he just blundered his h-pawn to something that wasn't even really a tactic against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However it is Nakamura who must be at a real low point losing his fourth game of the tournament, this time to Veselin Topalov on the white side of a Berlin Defence. Time for a rethink.
Round 8 Standings: Caruana 7.5/8, Carlsen 4.5, Topalov 4, Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian 3, Nakamura 2.
Round 9 Pairings Friday 8pm local time: Caruana-Nakamura, Carlsen-Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave-Topalov.
Carlsen came out fighting with the Sicilian Defence but his 10... a5 was already leaving commentators wondering if he might be in trouble as they couldn't really see where Carlsen's counter-play was coming from. Interesting moments: 15.Nb5!? (15.Nd5 Kasparov and others) 15...a3!? may have objectively a bit dubious, 17.h4!? (17.0-0 was very safe for white) 20...Bc6 was another risky decision. 26.0-0 was criticised by many onlookers as losing much of white's advantage, the engines then spiked indicating a further opportunity for Caruana on Carlsen's 28...Nb6 but already Caruana was starting to have time troubles and he didn't play the 29.Rfd1 that was recommended and after 32...Ne3 the game was already heading for a drawish ending and the draw was agreed on move 42. A game of very high tension even if we perhaps did not see the best of either player. We also saw strange things in the Candidates earlier in the year. We need to be looking to create events with more at stake and more tension.
Levon Aronian's miserable tournament continued when he failed to convert an overwhelming advantage when he just blundered his h-pawn to something that wasn't even really a tactic against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However it is Nakamura who must be at a real low point losing his fourth game of the tournament, this time to Veselin Topalov on the white side of a Berlin Defence. Time for a rethink.
Round 8 Standings: Caruana 7.5/8, Carlsen 4.5, Topalov 4, Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian 3, Nakamura 2.
Round 9 Pairings Friday 8pm local time: Caruana-Nakamura, Carlsen-Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave-Topalov.
| 2nd Sinquefield Cup 2014 Saint Louis USA (USA), 27 viii-7 ix 2014 | cat. XXIII (2802) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 1. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | ITA | 2801 | * | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | . | 1 | . | 7½ | 3247 |
| 2. | Carlsen, Magnus | g | NOR | 2877 | 0 | ½ | * | * | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | . | ½ | 1 | 4½ | 2829 |
| 3. | Topalov, Veselin | g | BUL | 2772 | 0 | 0 | ½ | . | * | * | 1 | . | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2803 |
| 4. | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | g | FRA | 2768 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | . | * | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | . | 3 | 2728 |
| 5. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2805 | 0 | . | 0 | . | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | * | ½ | ½ | 3 | 2704 |
| 6. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2787 | 0 | . | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | * | * | 2 | 2616 |
| Round 8 (September 4, 2014) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caruana, Fabiano | - Carlsen, Magnus | ½-½ | 42 | B36 | Sicilian Maroczy Bind | |
| Aronian, Levon | - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | ½-½ | 30 | C41 | Philidor's Defence | |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | - Topalov, Veselin | 0-1 | 57 | C67 | Ruy Lopez Berlin | |
