In round 3, it was the talk of the Indians as the young indian prodigies took down some grandmasters while Keymer Vincent from Germany kept on playing decisive games. This German grandmaster is not a fan of draws.
Game Highlight
The game between Aravindh Chithambaram VR (White) and Wei Yi (Black) was turbulent, featuring significant errors from both sides and miscalculations.
The opening was a standard Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, which led to a balanced position after 10 moves on the chessboard. Things began to change in the middlegame when Black went for an unusual king move (Ke7), leaving his king exposed. And, White, seeing an attacking chance, didn't hesitate to hold on to it.
Then the critical blunder came in on black's 25th move (f5), which changed the course of the game and even though white couldn't capitalize on the blunder, he was able to wrap things up the ending by applying pressure and forcing black into a bad position, which led to black's final blunder Qe6.
Sam Shankland played the English Opening against Keymer Vincent to take him into the symmetrical jungle, but that was refuted with Keymer's tactics and eye for key moves.
Both players moved on to castle to the queenside in the middlegame, which tells you that there will be an attack from both sides on their kings. Then things didn't look so good for Sam Shankland when he made a critical error with the move Kd2?, on which black didn't miss the opportunity to capitalize his decisive advantage. The game ended with Keymer winning after showing endgame supremacy by outplaying his opponent.
Anish Giri and David Navara featured Ruy Lopz: Berlin Defense in their game. An opening filled with high drawing tendency if both sides play well with fewer inaccuracies and blunders. The middlegame was quiet with active piece maneuvering, looking for better squares to place one's piece to cause problems in the enemy camp. But since much of that couldn't be achieved, the game ended in a draw.
Praggnanandhaa R and Nguyen, Thai Dai Van played the Nimzo-Indian Defense, and Praggnanandhaa showcased a deep understanding of positional chess, leading to a decisive win. White's d5 central push opened lines and created tactical opportunities. While Black's critical errors were Nh5 and f5?! Significantly weakening his kingside. Praggnanandhaa didn't fail to capitalize on such errors.
Le, Quang Liem and Gurel, Ediz was a closely contested match that ended in a draw and it featured the Petrov's Defense. The middlegame saw active play from both sides, with attempts to gain positional advantages, and after a series of exchanges, a balanced rook and knight endgame was present on board. Neither player could gain a decisive advantage, highlighting the equal nature of the position.
