The world champion’s unbeaten run of classical games is closing in on Ding Liren’s record, while the world No 3 is also on good formThe $325,000 Sinquefield Cup at Saint Louis moves into its second half this weekend as the draw-dominated event contrasts with the combative play from the identical 12 grandmasters at Zagreb only last month. The games are viewable free and live online, with grandmaster and computer commentaries, each day at 7pm from Friday onwards.
After five of the 11 rounds there were only four decisive results from 30 games. Fabiano Catuana (US), Vishy Anand (India) and Ding Liren (China) led with 3/5. Magnus Carlsen was half a point behind as the world champion opted for his safety-first trademark grinds to help him recover from his 10 defeats at last week’s speed events. His unbeaten run in classical remains intact, and at 84 games is within striking distance of Ding’s record of 100.