GM Alireza Firouzja is once again the sole leader of the 2024 Sinquefield Cup after beating GM Anish Giri in round five on Friday. The Dutchman is no longer in the world’s top 20 for the first time in more than a decade.
With all other games ending in draws, Firouzja leads with 3.5 points going into the rest day. GM Wesley So is trailing by half a point. The Sinquefield Cup will continue with round six on Sunday, August 25, at 2 p.m. ET / 20:00 CEST / 11:30 p.m. IST.
Round 5 Results
Standings After Round 5
Firouzja 1-0 Giri
“I’m happy so far with my play and hope to continue the same,” said Firouzja as the fifth round was about to come to an end in St. Louis. Since So only scraped a draw against Praggnanandhaa the French grandmaster is now the sole leader again with four rounds to go.
Firouzja defeated Giri in round five and could have done it even quicker. In what started as a Giuoco Pianissimo, White got a knight to f5, usually an achievement already. In this case, it could have hit Black’s kingside with devastating effect. Firouzja said he had looked at it, calculated 14-ply-deep but missed a mate-in-two at the end of the line:
The game went on and Firouzja had trouble finding a good plan while Giri remained solid. After a repetition of moves, Firouzja then missed 31…Qa5, after which he couldn’t repeat a third time and therefore was forced to try 32.b4, which worked out pretty well. He got a better ending, which was suddenly winning after a big mistake by Giri on move 42.
Asked about the tournament in general, and the fact that there’s constantly a different player in second place, Firouzja commented: “I think it’s very competitive because it’s the last tournament of the Tour. Everybody has some goals. Wesley and Maxime for top three, the other people… People are playing fighting chess and that’s why I think it changes.
I think it’s very competitive because it’s the last tournament of the Tour. Everybody has some goals.
—Alireza Firouzja
GM Rafael Leitao annotates the game below:
Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Ding
What are the chances that you’re getting the exact same rook endgame with three vs. three on the kingside and an extra d-pawn for White, two days in a row? GM Ian Nepomniachtchi smiled when this happened in his game with GM Ding Liren in what was their third classical game since the 2023 world championship match (they drew at the Superbet Classic last year and Nepomniachtchi won in Wijk aan Zee this year).
Why is Ian smiling? 😁 Do you remember his game against Wesley So from the previous round? He lost the exact same endgame with the Black pieces! What are the chances of getting the same endgame today, but with White? #SinquefieldCup #grandchesstour #nepoding pic.twitter.com/zuKEVhoSEf
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 23, 2024
“Obviously the endgame is pretty much a draw, not like a dead draw and I spent quite some time yesterday shuffling the pieces around with an engine, like, how does it work,” said Nepomniachtchi, who lost from the black side against So the other day.
I spent quite some time yesterday shuffling the pieces around with an engine, like, how does it work.
—Ian Nepomniachtchi
“Normally it’s a draw with every move, but for example I put my king on f6 yesterday in front of the pawn and it turned out to be lost immediately after,” he added. In that game, in many cases the move …f5 would have been good, and Ding already had the pawn there.
Nepomniachtchi: “I think he played everything correctly, he put his rook on b6, and what is most important, his king wasn’t cut [off] like mine. Somehow I wasn’t as resourceful as my opponent yesterday.”
Nepomniachtchi made one more remark about his loss vs. So. The Russian GM apparently feels somewhat frustrated about the way the American player approaches the game:
“Referring to yesterday’s game, it’s like a bit of a mystery to me. How does a guy, Wesley I mean, keep on playing exclusively for a draw with the white pieces and score some wins like this. This is just some special kind of talent which deserves probably some big kudos. It’s not the first time against me; it’s not the first time in the Grand Chess Tour. This happens quite frequently.”
Praggnanandhaa ½-½ So
Whereas it was Firouzja who had nine lives in round four, the same could be said for cat lover So the next day. Playing the black pieces against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, he was close to lost out of the opening, ended up in an endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops two (passed) pawns down, but saved it by the skin of his teeth as Praggnanandhaa just couldn’t find a systematic way to push his pawns.
In another Italian Game, So must have mixed up his lines because his novelty on move 12 and his follow-up move weren’t approved by the engines at all. Praggnanandhaa reacted strongly and was much better by move 19.
Just after the time control, the young Indian GM got the aforementioned endgame (still with double rooks there) which must have been a technical win. As his opponent continued to make life difficult for him, Praggnanandhaa spent so much time on the clock trying to find ways to make progress that he almost flagged.
For instance, when playing 72.Kf5 his clock was showing 0:01 for more than half a second. He was really pushing it.
“This must have been a third of a second to losing on time in this position. Unnecessary,” said GM Peter Svidler, who combines commentary with assisting Pragg in St. Louis.
Abdusattorov ½-½ Gukesh
In this clash between two super strong teenage players, first GM Gukesh Dommaraju had some chances but eventually it was GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov who ended up with an extra pawn. With only heavy pieces on the board, this wasn’t enough for a win.
In a fairly equal Ruy Lopez middlegame position (one with lots of d-pawns!), Abdusattorov’s 20.g3 and 21.h4 were risky, kingside-weakening moves but Gukesh failed to find an idea pointed out by the engine. He was very accurate in defense though after Abdusattorov took over the initiative:
Caruana ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave
He has been varying with his repertoire lately but for his 44th classical game with GM Fabiano Caruana (score: 10-5 Caruana with 28 draws), GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave picked his trusted Najdorf.
Caruana played the sideline 6.Nb3 and MVL chose a Dragon-like setup with 6…g6, after which we didn’t get to see opposite-side castling but a more quiet middlegame. Vachier-Lagrave’s 32…b4 was a nice way of creating an outpost on d4, after which it was more or less a forced draw.
Vachier-Lagrave may have set an unwelcome record for top-level chess, surpassing GM Magnus Carlsen’s 21 consecutive draws!
Record confirmé 😀 pic.twitter.com/1RS5cXAIKJ
— Europe Echecs (@EuropeEchecs) August 24, 2024
Round 6 (Sunday) Pairings
The 2024 Sinquefield Cup is the last leg and final classical event of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. Ten players compete in a classical single round-robin for their share of a $350,000 prize fund.
Previous Coverage
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
