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As a result of those key wins Deshmukh, Lahno, Muzychuk and Vaishali and Zhu Jiner are all tied for first after eight rounds.
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Last edited by Hans Jung; Wednesday, 8th April, 2026, 09:06 AM. -
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Rd 9 Key matchups Bluebaum vs Sindarov and Caruana vs Giri in a battle for second place.Last edited by Hans Jung; Wednesday, 8th April, 2026, 09:11 AM.Comment
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Rd 9 Gripping games! In the battle for second I was admiring Giri's play. It was almost as if he was playing by principles. Occupy the f4 square with the knight, and then exchange it for a bishop causing doubled E pawns. Take the A -file and threaten along the seventh rank. Play the late middle game with good bishop over ineffective knight. Exploit small weaknesses and play for small advantages. That sort of thing. But it was only good for an 0.5 advantage according to the computer. It wasn't until the endgame when Caruana got aggressive with his king (Kg4) that Giri broke thru in spectacular fashion. Eye popping even. After Kg4 the pawn break f5!! ordinarily a good break, is killing! The point is the white king is trapped and after captures e4!! forks the white queen or traps the white king in checkmate!
Ironically Caruana's game against Bluebaum comes to mind where checkmate was delivered with a pawn. Delicious.Comment
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I wonder how Giri felt after playing Kh6? - and did he say something witty about that afterwards (probably) A Giri moment.Comment
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In the Bluebaum Sindarov game at move 24 Sindarov could have played Qb7 This is not a move that requires supreme calculation. Every attacker knows you must keep the queens on for a successful king attack. I think Sindarov was fully aware but wanted to play it safe. He had a comfortable edge even with queen's off and as it turned out this was the difference between winning and drawing.Comment
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Sindarov draws and is now 7 out of 9. Giri wins the battle for second and has 5.5, Caruana 4.5. Giri is now 1.5 behind Sindarov and is the only player (I think) who has a slight chance in catching him.Comment
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Rd 9 Pragga played all the exclam moves against Wei Yi but at the right moment couldn't find the trigger. Draw. A narrow escape for Wei Yi.Comment
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