Mamedyarov scores the sole victory of the round
Mamedyarov beat Romania no.1 Constantin Lupulescu to join So and Grischuk in a three-way lead 3.0/5, heading into the only rest day of the event. So made a solid draw with Deac and Grischuk also had a well contested draw with Radjabov.
Deac - So: 0.5-0.5
Deac from the get-go was bent on launching an attack against So's kingside which of course he anticipated and took preventive measures before the Romanian could make a dent.
Find out what should black do in the above diagram. The game eventually liquidated into a drawn Rook endgame.
Radjabov - Grischuk: 0.5-0.5
Radjabov played his longest game of the event so far and drew with Grischuk after 35 moves.
Lupulescu - Mamedyarov: 0-1
Lupulescu was playing fine till Mamedyarov made a strong breakthrough.
Black went for the obvious 33...e5 break. White could have tried to hold a bit longer 34.Nh4 exf4 35.exf4 or even 34.Rb2 was fine. 34.fxe5 spelled doom for white as after 34...Rg6 white has no way to defend the g3-pawn and the kingside gets completely annihilated. Thus Mamedyarov scored his first victory of the event.
Caruana - Giri: 0.5-0.5
Caruana and Giri had a solid draw in the Berlin. However the American opted for a different line instead of exchanging queens on move no.8
8.Qe2 was played by Averbakh in 1949 and Fischer in 1958.
Aronian - Vachier-Lagrave: 0.5-0.5
Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave had a well-contested draw.
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