Dmitry Andreikin defeated Sergey Karjakin, who got in huge time trouble, and shares the lead with Hikaru Nakamura, who drew with Fabiano Caruana. In yet another decisive game Rustam Kasimdzhanov got a winning position against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but after wild complications the game ended in favor of Azeri player. Boris Gelfand luckily escaped in the endgame against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Teimour Radjabov chose to play Berlin Defence with Black pieces this time and hold a draw against Anish Giri after 52 moves. Jobava and Jakovenko drew a very complicated game. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Baadur Jobava share the second place half a point behind the leaders.
Gelfand 1/2 – 1/2 Vachier-Lagrave
An agressive and risky line in Gruenfeld defence played by Maxime, with relatively new idea 9…e6 ( 9…Be6 was tested before ), led to a very complex endgame. After innacurate 20…Nc6 White got clear advantage but after two mistakes ( 21.b5?!, 22.Nc3?!), which brought White on the brink of defeat, it was Boris turn to defend. Israeli player felt the right moment to escape.
Mamedyarov 1-0 Kasimdzhanov
Shakhriyar decided to jump from 1.d4 to 1.e4, hoping to get a playable position against Rustam and few moves later a rare sideline of Vienna opening appeared on the board. A couple of White’s inaccuracies let Rustam to get an excellent position but being short of time he missed winning idea 22…Rae8! 23.Rg1 Ne2+! and played 22…Rad8?! Instead/. The position became unclear but Black still had good chances to keep the balance. In time trouble former world champion committed one more mistake, and Shahriyar did not miss his chance.
Jobava 1/2-1/2 Jakovenko
According to Baadur, he decided to play very solid today and chose Nimzo-Indian with 4.e3. Hovvewer, his “dream didn’t come true” and after brilliant idea 12.Be1! the position became sharp. White sacrificed a pawn on e3 and managed to get good compensation, but with perfect defence Jakovenko managed to maintain balance. In time scramble it became a bit random, but luckily both players avoided any blunders.
Giri 1/2-1/2 Radjabov
Another Berlin defence, the very same line as in Radjabov-Andreikin from previous round, but today Radjabov was playing Black! ” I just wanted to keep up with trends and play Berlin with both colors”, said Teimour with a smile. 25 moves were made according to theory, and only then Giri started to think. He created some minor problems for Black, but Radjabov solved them easily. And after the game both players have 12 draws after 6 rounds.
Andreikin 1-0 Karjakin
Dmitry Andreikin chose a very unusual variation for high level chess! Clearly Karjakin was taken by surprise and spent a huge amount of time in order to solve his opening problems. Perhaps, he could have castled short in earlier stage of the game, but considering his previous game, he understandably did not like a possibility of Bh6 sacrifice. Black position was absolutely fine anyway and he could have continued 14…d5!? or 14…0-0-0 and then 15.0-0 d5!? with good chances, but inaccurate 14…Qa5 and especially 15…Ke7?! brought him into deep trouble. Being extremely short of time clearly did not help… Andreikin finished this game in style and joined Nakamura on the top.
Nakamura 1/2-1/2 Caruana
Old and very peaceful variation of Nimzo-Indian. It looked like Nakamura did not get chances to fight for opening advantage. Caruana equalised easily, outplayed his opponent step by step and won a pawn after Nakamura’s mistake, but already after first time-control missed serious winning chances ( 41…d5! ). After 55.Qd2 Nakamura got better chances in Queen endgame, but Caruana hold a draw with precise play.
Nakamura is untouchable.