This was a truly titanic struggle! The grandmasters have responsibly fulfilled their duty, but their forces were equal. The theoretical dispute in the King’s Indian ended in Radjabov’s favor. He was first to surprise the opponent (14…Re8!?) and soon seized the initiative. Grischuk showed good sense of danger and began to simplify the game. The resulting ending with opposite-colored bishops looked objectively drawn, but Teimour played very energetically and created certain pressure. Alexander had to demonstrate good defensive technique to hold a draw.

The players were unable to produce a fighting game. They went for a well-known and especially drawish line of the Petroff, and successfully split the point.

Vugar started the game ambitiously, but his opening choice was a little but unlucky. Rustam easily made all the necessary theoretical moves and built a solid construction in the center. White tried to shake it, but his efforts were fruitless. Black easily made a draw.

The struggle of the outsiders became the only decisive game of the round. The local favorite was unable to finish the tournament brightly. It was a very sharp game, and Eljanov eventually took the upper hand. By the 32nd move White already created powerful pressure on the Black’s king. The only move that could save Black was 32…Qd6! 33.Bd3 Re7 34.fxg6 hxg6 35.Nh4 f5! 36.Bxf5 Rf7, and the subsequent complications are difficult to assess. After the routine 32…Rde8 White quickly developed the winning attack.

This game will be subject to close research in the world’s best analytical labs. Wang Yue made a new move in a topical line of the Queen’s Indian Defense (17.Rfe1) and created very strong pressure. Black was literally on the ropes. Only detailed analysis will show whether White could prevent the freeing 21…Ncd4! and 24…d6! With this maneuver, Leko managed to equalize the game completely.

Both sides played very accurately in this principled encounter. I did not find any chances to shake the balance in this game. The moves were logical, and the draw was also very logical.

Another deep opening idea of the Bulgarian grandmaster decorated our tournament. With two crushing blows 13.e4! and 15.Qe6! he created a mating attack. The French maestro was clearly shocked, but still managed to put up some resistance. His play was not ideal, but still sufficed to make a draw. Cheparinov gradually lost a big advantage – his technique has obvious flaws. Well, at least it is clear now, what he should do to keep improving in chess.