Added on 6/28/2022
The most-awaited tournament of the year is taking place in Madrid, Spain. Check our ARTICLE to learn more about the participants and the background of the tournament. During the rest days, ICC will have GM Illescas and GM Yermolinsky recap the rounds. Three more rounds and the super-strong Ian Nepomniachtchi is still up there, on top of the list, more alone than ever. The last three rounds have shown Ian as the stronger player in the lot. He's been able to defend strenuously and attack recklessly, going through nine rounds without a loss, and with four wins. Caruana and Nakamura, who seemed the only ones able to keep the impressive pace of the leader, lost a game in the last three rounds. Nakamura did defeat Caruana, but then he lost to Radjabov in round 9. Now Caruana follows Nepomniachtchi one point behind, and Nakamura sits two points from the leader, together with Ding Liren. With five rounds to go, nothing is decided, but it'll be hard for the Americans and the Chinese to catch Ian. Standings after Round 9:
1 Nepomniachtchi Ian ½-½ ½ 1- ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6.5 2 Caruana Fabiano ½-½ 1-0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 5.5 3 Nakamura Hikaru ½ 0-1 ½ ½ 1-0 ½ ½ 4.5 4 Ding Liren 0- ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½-1 4.5 5 Rapport Richard 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½-0 ½-1 4.0 6 Radjabov Teimour ½ 0 0-1 ½ ½ ½- ½ ½ 4.0 7 Firouzja Alireza 0 0 ½ ½ ½-1 ½-½ ½ 4.0 8 Duda Jan-Krzysztof 0 ½ ½ ½-0 ½-0 ½ ½ 3.0Play resumes on Wednesday, June 29, at 9 AM EDT - 15:00 Madrid (CEST).