Brilliancies and blunders as Sinquefield Cup nears the finish line

The 11th Sinquefield Cup is rounding the final turn at the St. Louis Chess Club, with some of the world’s top grandmasters still in the running for the top prize.

As this is being written, Iranian-born French star GM Alireza Firouzja holds a half-point lead over American GMs Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana with three rounds to go in the 10-grandmaster invitational, annually one of the strongest events staged in the U.S.

Chinese world champion GM Ding Liren and teenage Indian phenom GM Donnemaru Gukesh, prepping for their world title match in November, are playing it safe, with each at 3-3 after drawing their first six games.

There may be no more confounding player on the elite circuit these days than Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, who in top tournaments has proven he can beat any player in the world — including himself. He spoiled an excellent start at St. Louis with painful losses to So and Caruana, showing again his baffling tendency to move quickly and impulsively just when the position requires a good long think.

Against Caruana in Sunday’s Round 6, Nepo blitzed out the first dozen or so moves of this Sicilian Dragon, suggesting his deep familiarity with a line in which both players seek mating attacks with the kings on opposite sides of the board.

But, still using next to no thinking time, White appears to mix up his move order in a position where the loss of a single tempo can have major consequences: 15. g4 Be6 16. Nb3?! (indicated here was 16. g5 first, to evict the knight and avoid the tactical tricks to come; on 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. h4, Black is by no means worse after 17…Nxg4! 18. fxg4 Rxc3! — the classic Dragon exchange sac that will rear its head again in the ensuing play — 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Qxd4 Rc6) Qa6 17. Bd4 Rac8.

While Caruana feared he was walking into his opponent’s preparation in one of the game’s sharpest opening lines. But as he has throughout his career, Nepo now blitzes out an inexplicable move, missing the relatively obvious threat (at least for top players) set up by Black’s last move.

Thus: 18. g5? (see diagram; Caruana took a long time with his next move, assuming White’s fast play meant — wrongly — he had something up his sleeve; it’s still a fight after 18. Qe2 or even 18. Qg5, which meets 18…Nxe4? with 19. fxe4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 21. Nxd4 Rxc3 22. Nxe6, winning) Nxe4!. Nepomniachtchi appears to have a full army protecting his king, but Black breaches the fortress with some classic Dragon tactics.

The second part of the one-two punch comes on 19. fxe4 (Nxe4 Rxd4 20. Nxd4?? Qxa2+ 21. Kc1 Qa1 mate) Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Rxc3!!, the ur-sacrifice in this line. When this idea is sound, White is almost always lost.

A demoralized White plays like a man just wanting to get the misery over with: 21. a3 (the critical line, according to Caruana, was 21. Nxe6 Rxc2! 22. Qd5, when Black was ready with the winning 22…Qb6! [Qe2? 23. Nd4 Rxb2+ 24. Ka1 and Black’s checks run out] 23. b3 Qa6 24. a4 Qe2 25. Nd4 Rb2+ and mate to come; on 21. Qxc3 [bxc3?? Qxa2+ and mate to come], Black has 21…Qxa2+ 22. Kc1 Rxc3 23. bxc3 Bc4!, and the marauding queen and powerful bishop will dominate White’s pathetic pieces) Qc4 22. b3? (effectively giving up; Black’s edge is huge but the game still must be won after 22. Nxe6 Rxc2 23. Qd5 fxe6 24. Qxb7 Rf8) Qc5 23. Rc1 (Kb2 Qe5 24. Rc1 b5 25. Kb1 a5 is just a slower path to death) Qxa3 24. h4 (far too late, White makes a tiny bit of kingside noise) R8c5 25. Rcf1 (meeting one threat —  25…Ra5 and mate on the a-file — but not the other one) Bxb3!, destroying the king’s last defensive shield and forcing resignation.

Nepo had no need to play out 26. Nxb3 (cxb3 Rxb3+ 27. Nxb3+ Qxb3+ amounts to the same thing) Rxb3+ 27. cxb3 Qxb3+ 28. Ka1 (Qb2 Qd3+ 29. Ka1 Ra5+ does the job) Rc2 29. Qxc2 Qxc2, and the two White rooks will be no match for the Black queen and the swarm of extra Black pawns that are about to mobilize.

Closer to home, here’s a shout-out to GMs Jianchao Zhen, Viktor Gazik and Robby Kevlishvili, who tied for first in the Open section at D.C.’s 56th annual Atlantic Open over the weekend. We’ll have more details and a game or three in upcoming columns.

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U.S. GM Hans Moke Niemann’s rise up the ratings charts has been overshadowed by the massive cheating controversy that erupted over his play in September 2022. An uneasy legal truce prevails in that lingering dispute, but Niemann has vowed to “let the chess speak for itself” with a series of “Niemann Vs. The World” matches with top players.

In contests mixing classical, rapid and blitz games, the 21-year-old Niemann has reeled off impressive wins in recent weeks over English GM Nikita Vitiugov, French former No. 1 GM Etienne Bacrot and Dutch star GM Anish Giri.

Neimann’s best performance in the classical portion of the serial contests may have been his win over Giri, who has ranked as high as fourth in the world and remains a Top 15 player in the FIDE rankings, in Game 3 of their match, a double-edged battle out of a Najdorf Sicilian.

Black holds his own through 21. Qd4 Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Qe6 23. 23 Qb4, but stumbles when he commences offensive operations: 23…Qg6?! (Kh8 was safe and good here, and Black’s pressure is also at least as strong as White’s after 23…Bg5 24. Rf3 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 Qxe4 26. Qxb7 Rxc2 27. Qxf7+ Kh7) 24. Rf3 Rf8 (Nxe4? 25. Qxb7 Bg5 26. Nc7 Rb8 27. Qxa6, with the advantage) 25. Raf1, and the doubled rooks on the f-file give Niemann a real initiative.

As in the first game, a well-timed exchange sacrifice cements White’s advantage here: 27. Qd4 g6?! (another second-best move; tougher was 27…Nxd3 28. Qxd3 Rfe8 29. Rg4 f6, with just a small edge for White) 28. Rxg5! (removing Black’s best defender and exposing the dark squares around his king) hxg5 29. Nf6+ Kh8 30. Nd7+, and the familiar queen-knight geometry against a castled king means Niemann recovers his sacrificed material, with interest.

By 32. Bc4 Qe7 33. Bd5, material is still equal but all three White pieces are firing on every cylinder, while Black’s best piece, the knight on c5, is about to be evicted. Giri makes the practical decision to jettison his queenside in hopes of a desperate kingside attack, but White proves up to the defensive chore.

On 41. c3 Qe7 42. Qb4 g4, it looks superficially as if Black has actually gotten something going, but White finds the clever 43. Qb7! Qxb7 44. Bxb7 gxf3 45. gxf3, correctly calculating he doesn’t need the rook when his queenside pawns are so much more valuable. Black rushes his pieces back to stem the tide, but it proves too little too late.

Black heroically manages to keep the a-pawn from queening with 51. a7 Rxc6 52. bxc6, but his king and knight prove helpless against the relentless advance of the White pawns and the nimble maneuvers of the White king: 56. Kc5 Na8 (Kd8 57. Kb6 Kc8 58. e5) 57. c7! Kd7 (there’s a nice little zugzwang after 57…Nxc7 58. Kc6 Kd8 59. Kb7 Kd7 60. c4 Kd8 61. c5 Kd7 63. c6+ Kd8 63. e5, and any Black move just loses) 58. c8=Q+ (Niemann’s position is so dominant he can afford to throw away yet another pawn just to gain the c6-square for his king) Kxc8 59. Kc6 Nc7 60. e5 Na8 61. e6 Kd8 62. Kb7, and Black resigns ahead of 62…Nc7 63. e7+ Kd7 64. e8=Q+ Nxe8 65. a8=Q+ and wins.

Nepomniachtchi-Caruana, 11th Sinquefield Cup, St. Louis, August 2024

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 d6 9. f3 Qa5 10. Qd3 Ne5 11. Qd2 Bd7 12. O-O-O Rfc8 13. Kb1 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. g4 Be6 16. Nb3 Qa6 17. Bd4 Rac8 18. g5 Nxe4 19. fxe4 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Rxc3 21. a3 Qc4 22. b3 Qc5 23. Rc1 Qxa3 24. h4 R8c5 25. Rcf1 Bxb3 White resigns.

Niemann-Giri, Classical Match Game 3, Utrecht, Netherlands, August 2024

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. O-O Be6 9. f4 O-O 10. a4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Nbd7 12. Be3 Rac8 13. a5 Rfe8 14. h3 h6 15. Qe1 Nc5 16. Qg3 Nh5 17. Qf2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Nxf4 Bd8 20. Ncd5 Qd7 21. Qd4 Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Qe6 23. Qb4 Qg6 24. Rf3 Rf8 25. Raf1 Bg5 26. Rg3 Qe6 27. Qd4 g6 28. Rxg5 hxg5 29. Nf6+ Kh8 30. Nd7+ f6 31. Nxf8 Rxf8 32. Bc4 Qe7 33. Bd5 Ne6 34. Qb6 Nf4 35. Qxb7 Qe5 36. Qxa6 f5 37. Qc4 Nh5 38. Rf3 Ng3+ 39. Kg1 f4 40. Kf2 Kh7 41. c3 Qe7 42. Qb4 g4 43. Qb7 Qxb7 44. Bxb7 gxf3 45. gxf3 d5 46. Bxd5 Nh5 47. a6 Nf6 48. Bc6 Ne8 49. b4 Nc7 50. b5 Rf6 51. a7 Rxc6 52. bxc6 g5 53. Ke2 Kg6 54. Kd3 Kf6 55. Kc4 Ke7 56. Kc5 Na8 57. c7 Kd7 58. c8=Q+ Kxc8 59. Kc6 Nc7 60. e5 Na8 61. e6 Kd8 62. Kb7 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.