Tata Steel, Round 2

Three decisive games and a five-way tie for first.

There were more winners today, though the play was a little quieter than in round 1 - a little quieter. The number of mistakes remained significant as well; maybe the players still need to get their sea legs after (in most cases) taking at least December off from classical play.

There were three winners, and two of them won quickly. Perhaps still shell-shocked from his defeat yesterday, Leon Mendonca played terribly against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and was blown off the board in a somewhat offbeat Advance French. Mendonca didn’t react particularly well to Abdusattorov’s idea, and his decision to castle long was suicidal. Jorden Van Foreest didn’t play well against Fabiano Caruana either, and he too was summarily dispatched.

The third winner was Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who enjoyed the better side of an “equal” ending for a long time before his opponent, Pentala Harikrishna, finally cracked. Harikrishna kept declining the opportunity to trade rooks, but that was the best and eventually only way to save the game.

Arjun Erigaisi could have been a fourth winner, but he couldn’t quite manage to put Anish Giri away. Likewise Max Warmerdam, who had Vincent Keymer on the ropes for a very long time but didn’t manage to land a knockout blow.

The other two draws were generally calmer. Vladimir Fedoseev obtained a meaningful advantage against Gukesh, but couldn’t figure out what to do with it before the champ escaped. As for Alexey Sarana vs. Wei Yi, the less said about that game, the better.

The games, with my comments, are here; here are the pairings for round 3:

Praggnanandhaa (1.5) - Erigaisi (.5)

Mendonca (0) - Harikrishna (1)

Warmerdam (1) - Abdusattorov (1.5)

Wei Yi (1) - Keymer (1.5)

Van Foreest (.5) - Sarana (1)

Gukesh (1.5) - Caruana (1.5)

Giri (.5) - Fedoseev (1)