Pragg plays the same system against the Italian that Fabiano essayed against him in the first game!
Making some space to drag the bishop back, if it's harassed.
Slotting the bishop to safety, as the strongest piece in Pragg's camp.
Pragg's structure has taken a hit, but on the other hand, Wesley has had to give up the bishop pair.
Contesting the center, and partially shutting out the dark-squared bishop.
Wesley is looking to bring his knight to life in the future, and is eyeing up the weak square (outpost) in Pragg's camp as a target.
The nice thing about this trade, from Pragg's perspective, is that now there's no longer a hole for Wesley's knight to plant itself on.
Targeting the vulnerable pawns.
Wow! That's an incredible find from Pragg. He spots the top computer choice, with a very clever tactical point that if Wesley had taken the 'hanging' pawn, then his queen would have gotten trapped!
Wesley pushes his pawn forward, just looking to snuff out any dangerous attacking setups on that side for Pragg.
One thing Wesley's been doing an excellent job of is managing his time here. Pragg's position is pretty good, but it's super complicated, and Wesley has a lot more time on the clock!
A cagey fight. Both sides pressuring the other's king, but no easy way to make serious progress either as the defenses are holding up really firmly for both.
Challenging the invader knight.
Wesley has really outplayed Pragg in the past sequence of moves. He's now eliminated his strongest piece, while bringing his own remaining knight to an excellent post.
With the rooks distracted on the right hand side, it's a good moment to take this pawn.
So far, it's been incredible play from the American, who looks to be set to win this game and force round 3 of the blitz play-off!
Hopeless for Pragg, as he's a full piece down and being viciously attacked to boot.
Just a matter of a few more moves here until Wesley will either force resignation, or directly checkmate his opponent!
Pragg looked to be in fantastic form given his win over Caruana in the first round, but Wesley shut down his ambitions in this one. Will we see Wesley clinch things against Fabiano, or will we see another twist and turn here at the Sinquefield Cup?!
An excellent start for Praggnanandhaa!
The pressure is on Wesley, who must win in order to stop Pragg from locking down the blitz tiebreak!
If Wesley were to win, however, then things would open up again! In that case, Fabiano would even have a chance to get back into the mix, if Fabi could then beat Wesley in game 3 of the tiebreaks.
Let's see if this will be the final action in St.Louis, or if there's more drama to come!