Skilling Open: Vidit lets Firouzja off the hook; Carlsen rallies; Giri leads

On a day when five round were scheduled, Vidit (1.5 points) also drew with second seed Ding Liren and Jan-Krzysztof Duda but lost to Levon Aronian and Anish Giri (4).

Vidit Gujrathi at the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz Championship in Kolkata, in November, 2019. - RAJEEV BHATT (File Photo)

Vidit Gujrathi tossed away a winning position against Alireza Firouzja in the opening round and eventually settled ended the first day with three draws in the $100,000 Skilling Open online chess tournament on Sunday.

On a day when five round were scheduled, Vidit (1.5 points) also drew with second seed Ding Liren and Jan-Krzysztof Duda but lost to Levon Aronian and tournament-leader Anish Giri (4).

The opening round saw Magnus Carlsen (3.5) reach a winning position against Ian Nepomniachtchi but resigned immediately after a dramatic 'mouse-slip' that saw him lose his queen. But the World champion
bounced back with victories in the last three rounds to share the second spot with surprise-packet David Anton.

Giri, with three victories and two draws, stayed ahead after his fifth-round win over Vidit, who slipped to the joint 14th spot. Ten more rounds are scheduled over the next two days. The top eight performers will move into the quarterfinals.

The results: Fifth round:

Vidit Gujrathi (1.5) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 4)
Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 3.5) bt Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 2.5)
Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1.5) lost to David Anton (Esp, 3.5)
Wesley So (USA, 3) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 2.5)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 3) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 3)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 3) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2)
Quang Liem Le (Vie, 2) bt Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 1)
Peter Svidler (Rus, 2) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 2).

Fourth round:

Ding drew with Vidit
Giri bt Quang
Anton lost to Carlsen
Firouzja drew with Nepomniachtchi
Aronian drew with Svidler
Duda lost to So
Vachier lost to Radjabov
Karjakin lost to Nakamura.

Third round:

Vidit drew with Duda
Nakamura drew with Giri
Carlsen bt Radjabov
So bt Aronian
Svidler drew with Firouzja
Quang drew with Ding
Karjakin drew with Vachier
Nepomniachtchi lost to Anton.

Second round: A

Aronian bt Vidit
Giri bt Karjakin
Vachier drew with Carlsen
Anton bt Svidler
Firouzja bt So
Duda drew with Quang
Ding drew with Nakamura
Radjabov lost to Nepomniachtchi.

First round:

Vidit drew with Firouzja
Nepomniachtchi bt Carlsen
Giri drew with Vachier
Karjakin drew with Ding
Nakamura drew with Duda
Quang lost to Aronian
So drew with Anton
Svidler drew with Rajdabov

Standings (after five rounds):

1. Giri
2-3. Carlsen, Anton,
4-7. So, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Nakamura
8-9. Firouzja, Ding
10-13. Quan Vachier, Svidler, Duda
14-15. Radjabov, Vidit
16. Karjakin.