Caruana and Nepomniachtchi top the Rapid
Fabiano Caruana (USA) halted Ian Nepomniachtchi's four-game winning streak in the eighth round. Although Nepo had a few good chances but he could not find them. Both of them topped the Rapid standings scoring 12/18. They are closely followed by Magnus Carlsen (NOR) at 11/18. The world no.1 drew against Richard Rapport (ROU) and then defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) and Constantin Lupulescu (ROU) consecutively. However, Lupulescu had some chances to go for the other two results.
Round 7: Caruana - Gukesh: 2-0
D Gukesh (2629) had beaten Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2752) in their very first encounter last year at the 44th Chess Olympiad. A month ago, Gukesh aagain beat Caruana in Armageddon at 11th Norway Chess 2023. Naturally, Gukesh felt his chances to be very good and he took it when the opportunity presented itself.
30...Nxd3! is an excellent positional sacrifice. Black is banking on his passed c and d-pawns. White has no choice but to take it 31.Qxd3 c4 32.Qf1 d3 33.Rd2 c3? Black needed to hold on to his passed pawns a bit longer. 34.Rxd3 Rxf2 35.Qh3 Qc4 36.Rd6 Re2 37.Rxe2 Qxe2 38.Qxe6+ Kh8 39.Qxe5 c2 40.Rxh6+ Kg8 41.Qd5+ Rf7 42.Rc6 Qd1+ 43.Kg2 c1Q 44.Rxc1 Qxc1 and White went to win the game using his extra pawns, spearheaded by the central passed e-pawn.
Round 8: Gukesh - Anand: 2-0
D Gukesh (2629) was facing Vishy Anand (2731) for the very first time in a tournament game. The maestro continued his recent trend of playing Caro-Kann with the black pieces.
Black's position was not easy to play. 34...g5 only made things worse for him 35.hxg6 Bxg6 36.Qh4 h5 37.gxh5 Bf5 38.Kf2 Nxd5 39.Rc8+ Kh7 40.Ng6 and Black resigned.
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Carlsen - Duda
It was certainly not easy for Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL, 2794) to find the correct continuation for Black. He went 17...Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Nxe4 19.Bxe7 Qd2 and now Magnus Carlsen found an incredible which is not easy to spot. Try to find out what he played.
Photo Gallery
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Replay Rapid Round 7-9 games
Rapid Round 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
| 1 | 5 | 2572 | GM | Lupulescu, Constantin | 0 - 2 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2829 | 10 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 6 | 2635 | GM | Saric, Ivan | 2 - 0 | GM | Rapport, Richard | 2761 | 4 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 7 | 2752 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 1 - 1 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | 2745 | 3 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 8 | 2731 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 1 - 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2760 | 2 | PGN | ||
| 5 | 9 | 2794 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 1 - 1 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2629 | 1 | PGN |
Standings after Rapid Round 9
Blitz Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 2832 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2858 | 10 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2626 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Rapport, Richard | 2707 | 9 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 2733 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2781 | 8 | ||||
| 4 | 4 | 2896 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Saric, Ivan | 2576 | 7 | ||||
| 5 | 5 | 2576 | GM | Lupulescu, Constantin | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2783 | 6 |
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000 with the first prize being US$ 40000.
