Caruana beats Abdusattorov
Fabiano Caruana emerged as the sole leader of the Sinquefield Cup after round four, defeating Nodirbek Abdusattorov with the black pieces. This was Caruana’s second consecutive win, bringing him to 3 points out of 4 and placing him half a point ahead of Levon Aronian and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who remain close behind on 2½ points. Abdusattorov, meanwhile, has endured a difficult start, suffering his third loss in just four rounds.
The game between Caruana and Abdusattorov was sharp from the outset. The Uzbek grandmaster opted for opposite-side castling and attempted to launch an attack on the kingside, going as far as sacrificing a knight to intensify the pressure. However, his strategy backfired. Caruana’s defence was precise, keeping his king sufficiently safe while preparing counterplay. His queenside pawn advance opened up lines against White’s king, and once White’s attack ran out of steam, Caruana seized full control.
Abdusattorov 0-1 Caruana
Following his victory, Fabiano Caruana was interviewed by commentators Nazi Paikidze and Yasser Seirawan | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Elsewhere, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave once again came close to scoring a victory, this time against world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. For a second consecutive round, the French grandmaster reached a promising position, only to let the opportunity slip away.
Gukesh faltered here with 30.Nxf5, when White needed to give an intermediate check with 30.e5+, and there would follow 30…Kg6 31.Nxf5 Rxf5+ 32.Kg3 (note that in this line, the black king is on the g-file, a crucial difference to what happened in the game).
The game instead continued with 30…Rxf5+ 31.Kg3 (diagram), and it was the Frenchman who now blundered with 31…cxb3
Instead of capturing on b3, Black could have gone for the forcing 31…Rg8+ 32.Kh2 Rf2 33.Bf3 c3 34.Rac1 c2 (diagram), with an extremely annoying passer on the c-file.
Commentator Peter Svidler was completely surprised by MVL’s rejecting this line – Svidler considers his colleague to be one of the best endgame players in the world.
In the game, Gukesh safely held a draw from the resulting position. After missing a win against Aronian the day before, this was another frustrating outcome for Vachier-Lagrave, who entered the tournament as the leader in the overall Grand Chess Tour standings.
Still smiling – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Alireza Firouzja’s clash with Wesley So also produced rich play, but ultimately ended drawn. Out of a Caro-Kann Defence, Firouzja correctly gave up an exchange on move 18.
An unusual endgame appeared later on the board, in which Black’s compensation consisted of an extra pawn, a strong and mobile pawn centre, and a dominant knight on d3.
The position remained dynamically balanced with chances for both sides until So chose to repeat moves forcing a draw, when he could have tried a pawn sacrifice that offered White chances to fight for more. Both contenders now stand in shared fourth place with 2/4 points.
Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The playing hall at University Club Tower in Saint Louis | Photo: Lennart Ootes
