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).
Published : Nov 23, 2020 18:31 IST
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.
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.