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The game started with  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6, and Shankland went for the direct  3.h4, which led to a line reminiscent of the Samisch Variation in the King’s Indian. Svidler temporarily sacrificed two pawns to create threats against the long-castled white king. Both players were showcasing their tactical prowess in the complex battle, until the Russian moved his queen to the wrong square on move 24.   24...Qb6 was the losing mistake, while 24...Qb5 would have kept the tense balance — a difference this slight can decide a game in such sharp struggles! The sequence that followed in the gam...

€469.90 Esipenko draws Carlsen comfortably The participants of the World Cup have been playing chess for a bit over two weeks. For the 16 survivors in the open section, the final objective is already in sight, which means nerves and fatigue will play an increasingly bigger role at the Gazprom Mountain Resort in Sochi. Day 1 of the round-of-16 saw 7 out of 8 matches finishing drawn, with Andrey Esipenko and Jan-Krzysztof Duda perhaps the happiest of the bunch that ended the day with a half point. Both of them got draws with black, and while Esipenko split a point with world c...

€29.90 MVL only goes through in Armageddon After three rounds, no fewer than 6 out of the 10 top seeds have been knocked out in the open section of the FIDE World Cup in Sochi. Although it should be noted that Levon Aronian left the competition due to health issues and was not eliminated by a lower-rated opponent, it is still surprising to see so many of the top stars out of contention this early in the tournament. Moreover, had Maxime Vachier-Lagrave not won his Armageddon game against David Paravyan on Tuesday, we would only have 3 players from the top 10 still going. MVL...

  After 27.g5 Bxf1 28.Rxf1 Nfe8 29.Nxd5, White does have a scary initiative, but the black king’s position is not particularly vulnerable, and if Jumabayev manages to ward off his rival’s potential attack he will be up material and will have a better-coordinated army. The engines gave Black a clear edge, but, of course, it was hard to find the precise path to victory against a calculator of Caruana’s calibre. Eventually, the world number 2 simplified into a sharp position with queen and knight against two rooks and a knight.  Caruana got out of the woods, but then erred again, on th...