There was action over the weekend in the WR Masters, followed by a rest day on Monday. Round 3 had a couple of wins, and both were well-played by the winners. Levon Aronian defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov from the white side of a Dragon - a rare bird (reptile?) in top-level play. Aronian had a slight plus until Abdusattorov played 14…f6, completely misassessing who would benefit most from the open lines that would result. White’s bishops and rooks got active, and Aronian won quickly and convincingly. Aronian became the sole leader with the win, as the only player with a +2 score.
The day’s - in fact, the weekend’s - only other winner was Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who continued one streak while breaking another. The streak that continued? White winning all his games. As he was Black in the previous rounds, he broke his two-game losing streak to get on the board, defeating Vincent Keymer on the white side of a 6.d3 Closed Ruy. Pragg built a nice kingside attack, winning material without letting his opponent achieve even a modicum of safety.
The other three games were drawn in that round, and then on Sunday all five games finished peacefully. (For all the weekend’s games, with my notes to the games discussed above, click here.)
Monday was a rest day, and today - Tuesday - the action resumes. Here are the pairings for round 5 (of 9):
Aronian (3) - Giri (2)
Nepomniachtchi (2) - Gukesh (2.5)
Esipenko (2) - So (2.5)
Keymer (1) - Abdusattorov (2)
Praggnanandhaa (1.5) - Duda (1.5)