MAXIME Vachier-Lagrave crushed Jeffery Xiong right out of the opening in Round 7 to seize solo leadership of the 8th Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis after the French GM’s erstwhile co-leaders, Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez Perez, were held to draws.
The 31-year-old Vachier-Lagrave built a devastating attack against the 21-year old Xiong’s kingside to force resignation after only 29 moves of a Ruy Lopez Berlin. On the other hand, Wesley split the point with Sam Shankland after 34 moves of an English Opening, while Dominguez Perez and Richard Rapport drew in 45 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
There were two other decisive games in Round 7. Peter Svidler masterfully outplayed Dariusz Swiercz in 35 moves of a Ruy Lopez Closed (you should replay this beautiful game), while Fabiano Caruana seemed to have put a period to Shakhriyar Mamedtarov’s quest for the championship by beating the Azeri GM with the black pieces in 38 moves of a Nimzo-Indian. The win gave Caruana a share of second to fourth places.
The standings after Round 7: 1. Vachier-Lagrave, 5; 2-4. So, Dominguez-Perez, Caruana, 4½; 5. Rapport, 3½; 6-8. Mamedyarov, Xiong, Shankland, 3; 9. Svidler, 2½; 10. Swiercz, 1½.
Rapport, R (2763)-
Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [D23]
Saint Louis (7) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qa4+ Nc6 5.Qxc4 e5 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.dxe5 Ng4 8.Bf4 c6 9.e3 g5 10.Bg3 Qa5+ 11.Nd2 Be6 12.Qc2 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 Bb4 14.a3 Bxd2+ 15.Rxd2 Bb3 16.Qf5+ Be6 17.Qc2 Bb3 18.Qc3 Qxc3+ 19.bxc3 Rxd2 20.Kxd2 Rd8+ 21.Ke2 Rd5 22.h4 Bc4+ 23.Kf3 Nxe5+ 24.Bxe5 Bxf1 25.Bd4 Rf5+ 26.Kg3 gxh4+ 27.Rxh4 Rg5+ 28.Rg4 Rxg4+ 29.Kxg4 Bxg2 30.Bxa7 b5 31.Kg5 Kd7 32.Kh6 Be4 33.f3 Bxf3 34.Kxh7 Ke6 35.Kg7 f5 36.Kf8 Kd5 37.Ke7 Kc4 38.Kd6 Kxc3 39.Bb6 Kb3 40.Bc5 Be4 41.Ke5 Kc4 42.Kd6 Kb3 43.Ke5 Kc4 44.Kd6 Kb3 45.Ke5 ½-½
So, Wesley (2772)-
Shankland, S (2709) [A20]
Saint Louis (7) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qe5 8.Bg2 Na6 9.0-0 Be7 10.d4 exd3 11.Qxd3 0-0 12.Rd1 Qh5 13.Qe3 Re8 14.Qg5 Qxg5 15.Bxg5 Nc7 16.Bf4 Ne6 17.Bd6 Kf8 18.e4 Rd8 19.Bxe7+ Kxe7 20.e5 Ne8 21.Ne3 a5 22.Rxd8 Nxd8 23.Rd1 f6 24.exf6+ Nxf6 25.f4 Be6 26.f5 Bd7 27.g4 Nf7 28.h4 h6 29.Kf2 Rg8 30.Kg3 Nd6 31.Re1 Kd8 32.Rd1 Ke7 33.Re1 Kd8 34.Rd1 Ke7 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2782)-
Caruana, F (2806) [E20]
Saint Louis (7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.d5 d6 6.e4 b5 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 b4 9.Bd2 0-0 10.Ne2 exd5 11.exd5 Nh5 12.Kf2 f5 13.Nf4 Nxf4 14.Bxf4 g5 15.Bc1 Nd7 16.f4 Nf6 17.Kg1 Ne4 18.fxg5 f4 19.Bd3 Qe7 20.Qe2 Bf5 21.Bxf4 Qg7 22.Rf1 Bg6 23.h3 Rae8 24.Qc2 Qd4+ 25.Kh2 Rf7 26.Qe2 Nf6 27.Qd1 Bxd3 28.gxf6 Bxf1 29.Qg4+ Kh8 30.Rxf1 Rxf6 31.Rf3 Rg8 32.Qh4 Qxb2 33.Rg3 Rxg3 34.Bxg3 Qd4 35.Qh5 Qe4 36.Qg5 Qg6 37.Qe3 Qf7 38.Qb3 Rg6 0-1
Svidler, P (2714)-
Swiercz, D (2655) [C88]
Saint Louis (7) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Nd7 11.c3 Nc5 12.axb5 axb5 13.Rxa8 Qxa8 14.Bc2 b4 15.d4 bxc3 16.bxc3 Nd7 17.Nf1 Qa1 18.Ne3 Qxc3 19.Nd5 Qa1 20.Re3 Qa7 21.Ba4 Bd8 22.Ra3 Qa6 23.Bc2 Na5 24.Bd2 c6 25.Ne3 Qb5 26.Bxa5 Bxa5 27.Bd3 Qb6 28.Nc4 Qb4 29.Rb3 Qa4 30.Nb2 Qa2 31.Rxb7 Nb6 32.Qb1 Qxb1+ 33.Bxb1 exd4 34.Nxd4 Bc3 35.Nxc6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2751)-
Xiong, J (2710) [C67]
Saint Louis (7) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Bd7 10.Rd1 Be7 11.Nc3 Ke8 12.g4 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Bf4 Rd8 15.Kg2 Be7 16.Be3 a5 17.f4 h5 18.f5 hxg4 19.hxg4 g6 20.Rh1 Rf8 21.f6 Bb4 22.Ne4 Be6 23.c3 Bd5 24.Kf3 Bd6 25.c4 Bxe4+ 26.Kxe4 Bb4 27.a3 Bd2 28.Bc5 Rg8 29.e6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Kd2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe4 2.Qd7#; 1…cxb3 2.b5#; 1…c3+ 2.bxc3#; 1…f3+ 2.Ng5#./PN
