Grandelius-Gukesh
Gukesh chose the Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez. Grandelius found a surprise bishop sacrifice on h7 that forced the black king to g6. Both players could have tried for a win at some stage, but it would have been very risky. Instead, it ended in a draw by repetition. A short but very interesting game, with many variations to analyse.
Keymer-Mishra
Keymer made an ambitious choice when he castled queen side in the Slav Defence. With a strong pair of bishops, Keymer had a very promising position, but when he was close to winning the game (28.Rf1 with the idea 28…Bg2 29.Rf2!, winning a piece) he lost control, and Mishra managed to turn the game around and eventually win it.
Keymer – Mishra.
Van Foreest-Gelfand
A long variation in the Accelerated Sicilian Dragon quickly led to an interesting endgame, where white had a strong knight against a bad bishop. It still looked like Gelfand might be able to hold on, but he failed to find the correct setup, and at the end, van Foreest did not have any problems securing a full point.
Svidler-Erigaisi
Some original ideas in the English opening gave Svidler a comfortable game. Somewhat surprisingly, Erigiasi chose to give up the exchange. This did not look very convincing, and Svidler got to show his technical skills with moves like 22.Qa3 and 28.Rb4, with the idea Ra4. Black’s defence crumbled slowly and in the end, Svidler won easily.