CHESS #1365

Viswanathan Anand shares the lead with Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren in the Sinquefield Cup. After five rounds, the three have 3 points each, with one win apiece. There have been only four decisive games so far, with Ian Nepomniachtchi losing once to Anand, and winning against Hikaru Nakamura.

The St Louis time control, with 30 seconds delay per move rather than increment, imposes odd constraints. While it guarantees 30 seconds thinking time per move, it doesn’t give players an opportunity to “bank” a few minutes by playing quickly like under an increment control.

There’s no chance to work through a period