World Cup 3.1: A Couple of Turnarounds!

On a day when draws took precedence with 12 of the 16 games finishing in draws, there was no lack of action whatsoever. Although the draws in Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura and Andreikin-Kramnik turned out to be pretty dry ones, there were others where the excitement was at its peak.

Areshchenko-Wei Yi
This was the most exciting draw of the day. The two played a wild game, with Areshchenko sacrificing a piece for three pawns in the middlegame. However, Wei Yi defended pretty well and kept Areshchenko’s attack at bay. The game then entered an endgame, with Wei Yi still possessing a minor piece for three pawns, and was soon agreed draw.

Topalov-Lu Shanglei
This was another draw which hogged a lot of attention. The Chinese youngster seemed inadequately prepared in the Sicilian Dragon and Topalov, playing White, had no trouble claiming a sizeable advantage. However, the former World Champion went wrong at important junctures and a near-equal endgame resulted. After that, Lu Shanglei had no problems in holding on to a draw.

Talking of the decisive results, Mamedyarov, Caruana and Karjakin overcame Sethuraman, Kovalyov and Yu Yangyi respectively. Although these 3 games were convincingly won, the remaining decisive game stood out as it witnessed a whole lot of action.

Grischuk-Eljanov
The most eventful game of the day was definitely Grischuk-Eljanov. Here, Grischuk’s perrenial time-trouble led him to go from winning to drawing and then finally, losing. It’s worth noting that Grischuk hasn’t won even a single classical game in this tournament so far.

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