There were only two decisive games in Friday’s round 6 action, and there were exciting moments and (missed) possibilities in several of the draws. First, the wins: Fabiano Caruana defeated Dommaraju Gukesh; this was at least in good part because Gukesh’s opening prep seemed substandard. Caruana was already winning around moves 14-16, and converted it to a win with generally excellent play. That brought him to within half a point of the lead. The other winner was Wesley So, who defeated Vincent Keymer in an ending. Although So had an extra pawn at the start of the ending, it should have been drawn with correct play. Keymer’s errors on moves 33 and 34 (time pressure?) allowed So to neutralize his opponent’s counterplay, and from then on the win was a sure thing given So’s fine technique. With the win So is on +1, a point behind the leader.
The leader, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, drew with Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. Like So, Abdusattorov reached a pawn-up ending that should be drawn with correct play; Pragg, unlike Keymer, managed to prove it. Abdusattorov was thus enable to extend his lead, but remains half a point ahead of his closest pursuers - Caruana and Anish Giri.
Speaking of Giri, he came close to making it a tie for first. He played a very good game against Arjun Erigaisi and achieved a decisive advantage. Had he dealt with his back-rank issues with 34.Kf1 rather than 34.h4 he probably would have won; after the latter, Erigaisi was able to save the game.
Smaller, fleeting opportunities were present (and missed by White) in the games Ding Liren vs. Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport vs. Parham Maghsoodloo. Finally, while there were ebbs and flows in the game between Jorden Van Foreest and Magnus Carlsen, it doesn’t seem that any tangible chances were missed by either player.
The games (with my comments to all of them) are here. Here are the pairings for round 7:
Erigaisi (3) - Abdusattorov (4.5)
Aronian (3.5) - Giri (4)
Maghsoodloo (3) - Caruana (4)
Praggnanandhaa (3.5) - Van Foreest (2)
Gukesh (1.5) - So (3.5)
Carlsen (2.5) - Rapport (2.5)
Keymer (1.5) - Ding (3)
Thanks for the analysis! Apparently it wasn't time pressure for Vincent Keymer: he spent 11 1/2 minutes on 33.-Nb1? - anyway, would one go for such a committal decision, good or bad or "in between", when low on time? 34.-b3? was played in just 22 seconds, but must have been the same thinking unit. He could again spend 8 1/2 minutes on 36.-Nc3 realizing what he had done.
A German source considered it a winning attempt - thinking/hallucinating that the black b-pawn would promote or cost white a piece? Maybe from afar he missed something relatively simple (at least once it appears or is about to appear on the board): both bishops are hanging after 37.-Nxa4 38.Nxb3.
Giri's mistake, also on move 34 and after 47 seconds, may well have been due to some time pressure. Earlier, Erigaisi had spent 21 minutes for 13.- 0-0-0?. So it may rather be a case of being unprepared for the rare and old 13.Qe2 (high-level games from the previous millennium) or not remembering his notes but not mis-remembering something.
All this assumes that times per move given on chess24 are reasonably accurate - watching live things are often confusing, maybe due to the 15 minute delay in live transmission introduced this year.