Classical play, going for the Ruy Lopez!
The exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez is generally considered harmless. Let's see what Hikaru has in mind here, within this relatively rare guest in modern chess.
Sindarov happy to step his knight out via a more passive-looking square, to reserve the usual knight square for a pawn instead and in this way support his center.
Looking to drive the bishop away and break the pin.
Hikaru looking to crack open the position at the right moment, by pushing his central pawn forward.
Shifting the play to more ambitious positional play, grabbing a big amount of space in the center and cramping Sindarov's pieces.
Fine margins in this game, but if anyone's got reason to be positive here it's Hikaru, with a nice central pawn presence.
The key for Sindarov to equalize the game is to find the right moment to strip Hikaru of his strong center.
Knight fork in the air! Hikaru will have to take care of that straight away.
Taking care of the threat, and adding to the piece pressure against Sindarov's queenside. Looking great for Hikaru here.
Hikaru punching through! But in fact, it's a bit premature. And now the risk is that the American grandmaster is going to find himself without that super strong protected pawn in the center he's had most of the game.
What a nice resource, pinning the pawn due to the undefended rook. Hikaru has overstepped here.
A fast and powerful move, using the outpost to anchor the bishop there and defend everything while forcing Hikaru to defend his queen.
Sindarov with an edge here as both players hit the 2 minute mark in this no-increment format!
Hikaru looks to be a bit plan-less here, as he shuffles his queen around. Sindarov's pieces are just much better coordinated right now.
Black's pieces just all look so much stronger than Hikaru's.
Hikaru has to watch out for those weak light squares around his kingside.
A pawn drops!
30 seconds more on the clock, and now it's free material for Sindarov. Huge upset potentially on the cards here!
An excellent chance here for Sindarov to push the knight back to a super passive square.
Resourceful from Hikaru! Tactics save the knight for now.
Daaaamn! Hikaru Nakamura a famously tenacious defender, but even he may have been surprised to see that he was not just able to carve out a draw from a losing position. Instead, he goes full speed demon on the clock, and in the chaos of the zero-increment format he sets a cunning checkmating trap that Javokhir Sindarov, down to just about 15 seconds or so, walks right into! A huge turnaround and a brutal psychological twist for the Uzbek grandmaster, who looked to be about to go 1-0 against Hikaru from the Black side. Instead, he's up against it now and must win the next game in order to force tiebreaks.