I entered the doors of the St. Louis Chess Club. I'm not 100% sure where the line starts for buying tickets. Trying to figure things out, I stood off to the side out of everyone's way. Within a few minutes, ANISH GIRI walks by. I didn't say anything to him, he almost surely didn't even notice me, and I'm not even an Anish Giri fan. But it's still amazing.
After buying a ticket, I get in line to enter the playing hall. There is a security guard who checks to make sure that no one has a cell phone. One by one, the players pass by.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen. The two people following him might be GM Peter Heine Nielsen (one of Carlsen's seconds) and Henrik Carlsen, but I'm not sure. Seeing the World Champion was so exciting that I didn't pay any attention to the other people in the picture.
Levon Aronian, or "the Armenian hammer" according to GM Yasser Seirawan during the Ultimate Moves event that followed the tournament.
Former World Champion Veselin Topalov had a terrific start but was unable to maintain it.
Former World Champion Vishwanathan Anand had a poor event. It was hard to see the board since there were so many spectators in front of me, but eventually I got a clear view.
Giri-Anand
I SAW ANAND PLAY 11...Be7 ! True, it's not an especially remarkable move or an especially remarkable position. But watching the former World Champion play a move was still a very memorable experience.
The World Champion takes a sip during the opening.
Caruana in his game against Grischuk. More on that later.
Giri contemplating his next move in his game with Anand.
After a while of standing and trying to peer over the shoulders of the people in front of me, I decided to leave the playing hall. On the first floor of the chess club, there is an area where spectators can sit and watch the live broadcast with commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, and Maurice Ashley.
Rex Sinquefield himself came to join us.
After a while, I wanted to see the games in person again and form my own impressions. It's very easy (and very enjoyable) to listen to the commentary, but at some point it starts to substitute for your own thought. Nakamura's brilliancy against So was close to the end, so the bulk of the spectators was watching that game. This created an opening to see Grischuk - Caruana. Both players were running low on time in a very interesting position.
Grischuk - Caruana
Position after 23...axb5
Grischuk played 24.Nb3, and Caruana quickly replied with 24...fxe3. I thought that this was a mistake. Much of Black's compensation comes from the fact that the h2-bishop is shut out of the game. Now the bishop is released, and Black only gets a pawn in return. The main alternative was 24...Bb6. Now one commentators (I think it was GM Ramirez) pointed out that White has an edge after 24...Bb6 25.Nd4. It relieves some pressure from e3, but at least the h2-bishop remains inactive. 25.Nxc5 Qxc5 26.fxe3 Qxe3. Grischuk paused for a while here. At first I considered some variations starting with 27.Bg1 and thought that White was much better. Black's center pawns will be blockaded, and the extra piece will prevail. Then I noticed that White also has 27.Re1. I couldn't reach a clear conclusion on which was better. Then Grischuk played 27.Re1. It was thrilling to see him play one of the moves that I thought was best. 27...Qf2 28.Bg1 Qf7 29.Qd2. At the time, I thought that 29.Be3 was more precise. Like 29.Qd2, it hits the g5-pawn, but it has the added bonus of stopping Black from playing ...h5. But Grischuk had a better idea. 29...Qg6
30.Ra6! I SAW ALEXANDER GRISCHUK SACRIFICE A ROOK!!! The rook cannot be taken due to 31.Qxg5+ and 32.Qxd5. If the Black king were flee to g7 or h8, then the once entombed dark-squared bishop springs to life with a devastating check on d4. 30...Rf6. I thought that he might simply trade rooks, eliminating Black's threat of ...h5. But instead Grischuk doubles down. 31.Rea1 The rook is still immune. 31...Re8 32.Rxf6 Qxf6 33.Rxa7. By now, Caruana was in severe time pressure. Highly uncharacteristically, Grischuk had a few more minutes. 33...h6 34.Be3 Qe5 35.Qe1 Bc4 36. Bd4 Qf4 37.Be3 Qe5 I'm not sure why Grischuk repeated moves. He had no intention of seeking a draw. Most likely, he wanted to get closer to the time control, but he was still leading Caruana on the clock. Hence, the shortage of time favored him. Perhaps he felt confident enough in his position that he didn't need to win in a time scramble. If he could just maintain his advantage through the time control, then he could certainly convert. 38.Bd4 Qf4 Now he finds a way to finish off the game.
39.Rg7+ Kf8 40.Qa1! Caruana was down to just seconds on the clock. His position is falling apart, and he has to find a way to meet 41.Qa3+. Caruana kept hesitating. He has to make a move! He has just seconds left! And then...I SAW CARUANA FLAG! Amazing. And all of that was just Round 6. Part 2 coming soon, with pictures and impressions from Round 7.
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