New Delhi: Ian Nepomnichtchi has almost already won the tournament. Where he just needed a few draws, he goes on to win against Alireza Firouzja. On the other hand, Ding Liren also won his game against Fabiano Caruana which helped him extend his lead for second place.
Alireza Firouzja Vs Ian Nepomnichtchi (0-1)
The story of this game began the night before when Firouzja went online to play 30-second hyperbullet games. Firouzja played 337 games out of which 250 were against GM Daniel Naroditsky, who is also commentating for Chess.com in the tournament. Magnus took on Twitter to share his views on the same.
Now that Alireza has gone back to his bullet roots, I’m sure he’ll be inspired and win tomorrow!
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) June 29, 2022
It was Nepomnichtchi showing his love for Petrov’s defence once again. 15. Rc8 was a fine move by Nepo to which Alireza replied with g4 and invited his opponent to win yet another game. After that, there was nothing much left for Firouzja in the game. Though an interesting moment came on move 23 where, as per the engine, Bd8 was the winning idea for black, but, Nepo quickly chose Rc4. Still black was the one who had the command over the position but that inaccuracy gave some chances to Firouzja which he did not capitalise on.
Fabiano Caruana Vs Ding Liren (0-1)
Ding has made a cracking comeback, but the question is, is it too late for him now? The game began with Ruy Lopez: Anti Marshall variation and Fabiano got a good position out of the opening. Fabi had his knight placed on g7 which shows how much he penetrated into black’s position. As Fabi played 22.Rc1, they were out of the books and Ding had the control.
Soon Fabiano took back control and Ding’s king was in a vulnerable position. Ding defended well and was rewarded as Fabiano blundered a winning position on move 57. It was a long game with 78 moves but Ding came out as the winner eventually.
Anish Giri again shared a Ding Liren meme on his Twitter handle.
Ding when it’s all over and he gets his match.
***please don’t infringe this cringe, it’s original content*** pic.twitter.com/8yvuCXwbvJ
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) July 1, 2022
Hikaru Nakamura Vs Richard Rapport (1/2-1/2)
The game was opened with Sveshnikov Sicilian, an opening Rapport had never played before. On move 19, Rapport sacrificed his weak d-pawn. Throughout the game, Nakamura tried to push for some advantage and rapport defended well. In the endgame too, where Nakamura was a pawn up, Rapport defended well and the end result of a long encounter was a draw. The game lasted for 96 moves!
It was surprising that in the endgame, Rapport missed the threefold repetition twice, however, he managed to hold in the end.
Teimour Radjabov Vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda (1/2-1/2)
The game started at an interesting note as Radjabov seemed to be in a mood to push for a win. He played the English opening and fianchettoed both his bishops, but Duda managed to equalise on move 15.
What followed was a double-rook endgame with equal pawns on each side. The game ended in a draw on move 33.
