Almost all of the favorites in today’s tiebreakers advanced - in many cases by the skin of their teeth - but two players lost to the underdogs. The most notable upset was Hikaru Nakamura’s loss to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, going out 2-0 in the 25’+10” games. I was concerned that Pragg was a player who could pose danger to Nakamura at any time control, and unfortunately (from my perspective as an American; nothing against Pragg, who is a great talent whose chess I enjoy) my fears proved to be well-founded.
Still, the defeat was rather strange, as with White Nakamura played a known piece sac and almost immediately played a very rare move that the engine claims is bad. Nothing in what followed suggested otherwise, and while Nakamura of course battled to the bitter end he was never close to saving the game. In the second game he had to take extra risks with Black, and was convincingly defeated.
The second upset was Peter Svidler’s loss to Nijat Abasov. In the first game he had some difficulties, but defended well to hold. In game two he obtained an edge with White, but inaccuracies on moves 21 and 24 left him a little worse before a blunder on move 25 led to his resignation two moves later.
To the other matches, briefly, since the expected player won every time. Magnus Carlsen enjoyed a winning advantage against Vincent Keyer in both of the 25-minute games, but failed to convert either advantage into a victory. The first of the 10’+10” games was a clean draw, and finally in their fourth tiebreak game Carlsen took advantage of Keymer’s errors and ground out a win in a queen ending.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda lost the first g/25’+10” to Parham Maghsoodloo, but fought back and, with a little luck, managed to win the match. By contrast, Ian Nepomniachtchi needed a lot of luck to not only survive but defeat Nihal Sarin in the first game of their match, and in game two he was able to survive and then defeat Sarin’s extravagant opening.
I’ll mention two other victors. First, Leinier Dominguez, whose win over Radoslaw Wojtaszek lets him join Fabiano Caruana as the last standard bearers for the United States in the World Cup, and Vasyl Ivanchuk, who did not have an easy time putting away Vahap Sanal but finally managed it in the fourth tiebreak game.
Other winners: Dommaraju Gukesh (over Andrey Esipenko), Wang Hao (winning the first 3’+2” sudden death game over Rasmus Svane; he was in trouble in the second 5’+3” game and could easily have been eliminated there), and Saleh Salem (versus Daniele Vocaturo). Here are the pairings for round 5:
Carlsen - Ivanchuk
Gukesh - Wang Hao
Salem - Abasov
Nepomniachtchi - Vidit
Caruana - Duda
Dominguez - Sarana
Erigaisi - Grandelius
Praggnanandhaa - Berkes
Today’s games, many with my notes, are here.
Two quick comments about the concurrent Women’s World Cup. First, in the battle of the Muzychuks, it was Anna who moved on, defeating her sister Mariya. Second, happily, Ju Wenjun lost to Elizabeth Paehtz. Nothing against the World Champion personally; my objection, as I’ve stated before, is with the participation of players in these events who can’t (or won’t) play in the Candidates, given that this event is a qualifier for the Candidates.