We’re now at the end of 9 rounds and can now say that we’re headed into the back eight- toward the finish line! The leader by half point- Fabiano Caruana had a wonderful opportunity to stretch the lead further at the end of the 9th round but was ground down by some stubborn defense by Ding Liren- who has pretty much drawn all his games so far at this tournament. Fabi had the chance to break that spell for Ding for the worse but missed his chances. This being Ding’s first Candidates Tournament the fatigue is clearly showing on him. The grueling schedule while facing off the World’s Top Talent tests the overall stamina of every player. The fatigue and stamina is pretty much testing all the players.
True to his form Fabi showed some endurance in producing a fine win over Levon Aronian in round 7 and steal the Tournament lead from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Playing Black in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted Fabi faced some risky initiatives undertaken by Levon. Levon gained some initiative at the cost of affording Black some counter play that backfired on his exposed weaknesses as a result of his active play. The arising position was very sharp and after having gone through some back and forth trading blows Fabi’s King was apparently safer. Aronian resigned on move 37 facing high material loss. This performance is very typical of Aronian at the Candidates Tournament time after time. Much as the promising form he’s shown all of last year it has been deserting him at the Candidates. We take a look at their game below.
The form always eludes Levon at the Candidates. -Photo: World Chess
Wesley So continued his downward spiral after a rough start by blundering to Sergey Karjakin at their 7th round face-off. In a very elementary endgame conclusion So erred in his calculations on move #35 to squander away the game. We’ll see this closely below.
Trying hard to keep his composure and form at his first Candidates Matches is Wesley So. -Photo: World Chess
The game Kramnik v Ding was a tight battle that had Ding smelling blood after winning Kramnik’s Queen. However some inaccuracies later Kramnik was able to transpose into the endgame with a Rook and Knight v Queen and was able to form a fortress around his King and form stubborn resistance to Ding’s initiatives with the Queen. The players agreed to a draw by perpetual check after 74 moves.
The 8th round was rather quiet and uneventful as all players drew their games. They are all facing a long road ahead and no doubt want to save their energies and stamina for the last few rounds to pull away from the pack!
Making the ceremonial first move on Board #1 is FIDE President’s Assistant for Africa Lakhdar Mazouz. -Photo: Niki Riga
Ninth round now and facing Ding Liren with the White pieces and after having created a well established passed pawn on the 6th rank Fabi maneuvered around his pieces to try force a zugzwang on Black only to find some stubborn and accurate defense by Ding. This also tested Fabi’s nerves heading into the 7th hour of their play, and facing time pressure only compounded by a passed Black pawn staring down from b4 he offered the truce after move #67 with under 3 minutes remaining on his clock and no increments per move. Here’s a look at the game.
The only decisive game was on the board facing off Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Kramnik. After his two wins in the first three rounds Kramnik has already lost three games since- mostly overestimating his chances and losing control. And thats exactly what transpired in this round. Playing the semi-Tarrasch variation of the Queens Gambit Declined Kramnik furiously countered White’s play on the Queenside to aggressively push his center pawns e5 & f5 to control the center and shift the battle on the Kingside by swinging his Queen on an active post on g4 and following up with an assault by his pieces on Karjakin’s exposed King. Not hesitant to sacrifice material to keep the initiative and tactical lines open Kramnik sacrificed his Rook on f2 totally baring White’s King. But alas he was facing the “Russian Minister of Defense” in Sergey Karjakin who lived up too his reputation and formed a solid defensive fortress around his King and totally wearing down Black’s initiatives and his pieces. Kramnik, once again went down in flames overestimating his chances and much as he is always obliging and very candid, didn’t show up for the press conference after the game.
Here are standings after 9 rounds and we can sure look forward to a lot of exciting chess starting tomorrow! Follow the games live on our website under the “Follow Live Tournaments” tab! Rounds start at 10am CDT.
