Viswanathan Anand
Of the three decisive games today, the first to finish was Anand’s win over Vachier-Lagrave. In the Diagram below, White made what at first appeared to be a pseudo sacrifice by taking on e6.
Alas there was a fly in the ointment. Anand stung with the surprising e3 and White ended up losing a piece. This was the only victory today with the Black pieces.
Click On The Diagram To Step Through The Game.
Levon Aronian
Aronian won what was most likely a drawn ending when Svidler did not leave his ‘a’ Pawn on the opposite color of his Bishop. In the Diagram below he played ‘a5’. This left the square control on the Queenside open for invasion and White capitalized on the Pawn target to win the game.
Click On The Diagram To Step Through The Game.
Hikaru Nakamura
Giri launched what at first appeared to be a powerful attack against the White King. In the Diagram below Nakamura could have taken the Rook on ‘h4’. He elected instead to check on ‘h8’ and turned the win into a grand fight. This was the last game to complete for the day.
Click On The Diagram To Step Through The Game.
The images below are courtesy of Derrick Bartotto.
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