Carlsen Falters In Winning Position, Loses To MVL – Chess.com

For 45 moves today, Magnus Carlsen played a model "Carlsen" game in the Sinquefield Cup. Getting little from the opening, he created complex positional problems and was rewarded with subtle errors from Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However, as the engines began crowing about advantages as high as +4, Carlsen erred, immediately allowing a resourceful Vachier-Lagrave to get back into the game and then to claim the advantage.

Headline photo: Lennart Ootes, Grand Chess Tour.

Despite fierce resistance from Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave claimed the full point. This swing reintroduces questions about Carlsen's status as the world number-one. He has a 10-point edge over Fabiano Caruana who is currently second (in Saint Louis and on 2700chess.com), but there is a real possibility that continued tribulations could allow Caruana to overtake Carlsen in Saint Louis. Meanwhile Vachier-Lagrave is leading the tournament and is only a fraction of a point shy of re-crossing 2800.

The day's other winner was Ian Nepomniachtchi who won surprisingly quickly against Hikaru Nakamura.

For now, here are the games. Check back tomorrow for quotes, analysis, and more.

2017 Sinquefield Cup | Round 4 Standings

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Carlsen Falters In Winning Position, Loses To MVL - Chess.com