Madrid Candidates 16th June to Tue 5th Jul 2022

[Matt Mackenzie]

Pseudo-sacrifice in those lines, no? Unless you're thinking of something I'm not thinking of.

Is this the Slav piece for 3 pawns "sacrifice" or the almost forced draw one?

[JustinHorton]

Ding draws with Rapport having blown a massive advantage

[Nick Burrows]

Ding draws with Rapport having blown a massive advantage

Very good defence from Rapport - ruining a clean sweep of predictions

22..Nxe2 was a good practical decision because the winning line was a nightmare to calculate.

[NickFaulks]

Ding draws with Rapport having blown a massive advantage

Really? The free Stockfish throws out huge numbers and then gives lines which don't seem to support them at all.

[JustinHorton]

Pseudo-sacrifice in those lines, no? Unless you're thinking of something I'm not thinking of.

Is this the Slav piece for 3 pawns "sacrifice" or the almost forced draw one?

I might be the wrong person to ask

[NickFaulks]

Wouldn't you know it! This was the day I forgot to buy my four draws lottery ticket.

[Chris Rice]

Impressive hold from Nakamura.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Firouzja v Naka is one of those games which distinguishes candidates from very strong (2700+) GMs, in my view.

[JustinHorton]

Impressive hold from Nakamura.

Immense stuff. You're looking at that position with the king tied down and the knight tied down and thinking White must be able to get in somehow, but no.

[Tim Harding]

Ding draws with Rapport having blown a massive advantage

Really? The free Stockfish throws out huge numbers and then gives lines which don't seem to support them at all.

Ding missed a clear win at move 23, playing Qe2 instead of 23 Qxd8 when if 23...Nxc1 24 Qg5 is crushing while if 23...Qxe4 (which maybe scared him off) 24 Bxe2 Qxg2+ 25 Ke1 Black has some checks and can regain a bit of material but it's not enough. Polgar and Gustafsson were looking at this and STockfish 14 on my laptop agrees White is at least +3.

Whether Firouzja had a forced win at some stage only deep analysis can determine but he definitely should have kept rooks on (37 Rc1). It was an impressive save by Nakamura but more a case of Innocence v Experience than what Jonathan suggests,
in my view. It was impressive that Nakamura, confronted by evidently deep and dangerous preparation, managed to find although not one of the best defences, still one that was playable (if disadvantageous). In endgames Nakamura has proved over and over again that he is very hard to defeat in endgames (except by Magnus).

Tuesday's pairings include Ding v Caruana.
Many Forumites may recall that in the first cycle at Yekaterinburg, when Ding had lost two games, Caruana went for a very wild attacking line against the Chinese GM and lost a crucial game. So maybe he will be more cautious this time.
I expect Nepo v Firouzja to be an interesting fight, and the others could catch fire too.

[NickFaulks]

Ding missed a clear win at move 23, playing Qe2 instead of 23 Qxd8

That one is clearly correct, but I am much less convinced that 27.Re1 threw away another win.

[Chris Rice]

Naka's missing his mouse

[Nick Burrows]

Round 4

Rapport 0–1 Nakamura
Nepomniachtchi 1/2–1/2 Firouzja
Duda 1–0 Radjabov
Ding Liren 1/2–1/2 Caruana

[JustinHorton]

Rapport v Nakamura 0-1
Nepo v Firouzja 0-1
Duda v Radjabov 1-0
Ding v Caruana 1/2

Latest according to Oddschecker:

Caruana 11/4
Firouzja 5/1
Ding/Nepo 9/1

...although if you dig deeper I am not sure how valid all the prices are as Skybet appear to be offering odds for several players who are not in the tournament.

[JustinHorton]

Nepo to plus two!