Sinquefield Cup

[Nick Burrows]

although the commentary not to my taste. Is this just me?

Too much distraction with commercial interviews, telephone calls etc. I like Yasser, Maurice is an aquired taste but enjoy his unguardedness, I prefer Jovanka to Jennifer. Still overall, better than most commentary packages.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

MVL-Carlsen would be consistent with Magnus hiding his WC prep.

Different world champions and challengers seem to take differing approaches to the lead-up to a title match. Some hunker down and play very little, doing training camps instead. Carlsen seems to do a bit of both. Caruana really had to play here. Still not sure what Carlsen gets from playing this event in a world title match year, except maybe he enjoys it and would lose more by not playing. Maybe he is still looking for his best form? He will presumably spend two months preparing for November, but Caruana will only have a month after the end of the Olympiad. Is it more important for the USA to defend their Olympiad title, or for Caruana to have the best chance of winning the world championship?

[David Sedgwick]

... but Caruana will only have a month after the end of the Olympiad.

Less than that, if he still intends to play in the Chess.com Isle of Man International Masters.

[LawrenceCooper]

Four draws already today with just Carlsen-Karjakin still going.

[JustinHorton]

And won by Carlsen in 88 moves.

[LawrenceCooper]

Four draws already today with just Carlsen-Karjakin still going.

It clearly went on for some time with Magnus winning in 88 moves.

[Chris Rice]

"It was a throwback game," Carlsen told Chess.com. "I haven't been winning many of these types of games lately. I didn't really have the opportunity at the world championship. It's massive for me."

[Roger de Coverly]

They are following American conventions, so it's a 30 second delay rather than increment. That's sufficiently rare that they had to seek a ruling as to whether players needed to keep score. Usually US tournaments have a 5 or 10 second delay, just enough to rule out "unable to win" claims.

Delay rather than increment may favour the faster player, as it's no longer possible to bank time by playing a few moves very quickly.

They also had a problem with their rule about arbiter's permission to draw. Carlsen seemingly objecting that a position that was drawn to a 2050 arbiter could be one in which he would see winning chances.

[David Robertson]

Round 3 - another yawnfest. Some play available in Nakamura-Grischuk, but otherwise it's all rather dull

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 3 - another yawnfest. Some play available in Nakamura-Grischuk, but otherwise it's all rather dull

Nakamura drifted into a horrible position and black eventually converted. All other games were drawn.

[Chris Rice]

Chess.com report on the round. Not a great deal to report to be honest but a couple of interesting quotes.

"The Mamedyarov-Caruana game was the second longest of the tournament. After play reached the endgame phase, Caruana kept plugging away. He eschewed a repetition to try to inchworm his way to the full point, similar to how Carlsen did yesterday. That parallel was not lost on Mamedyarov. "Of course it's very good for him to play until the end," Mamedyarov said, explaining that it is good preparation for the world championship.
About the parallels to Carlsen's epic win yesterday, Caruana told Chess.com that he had it open on his phone last night. "It's normal that you try to win these positions," Caruana said about his own effort today. He added that against Carlsen he would have also continued to press. "I can definitely convert small advantages if I have the chance. It's very difficult because Magnus, he doesn't collapse," he said.

The other interesting quote was from Anand:

"In other action, Sergey Karjakin used up a turn with White to end his losing streak as he drew Viswanathan Anand, who borrowed an idea from Anish Giri. But that's not the only player Anand follows carefully. "In the last six to eight months, since he's stopped drinking, he's been on fire," Anand said about Mamedyarov. "I study his games all the time."

[LawrenceCooper]

The eagerly awaited Mamedyarov-Aronian game was drawn in 24 moves.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If Caruana wins against Nakamura, there will be five players tied for the lead on +1 (2.5/4). Bit of slow start, no-one has really sprinted out of the blocks. MVL and Anand with four draws so far.

[JustinHorton]

Caruana v Nakamura drawn according to the online services, but possibly not according to real life

[JustinHorton]

Now giving 1-0 to Caruana which I'm much more prepared to believe.