This time it's Hikaru's turn to play the super-solid Petroff Defense! Wei Yi was on the Black side of this exact system in his match just a short while back against Sindarov, a game he won. Let's see what happens here!
Wei Yi strengthens his central control. He might be looking for a knight jump to cement that square soon.
Hikaru shuts down any possible forward jump of that kingside knight.
Hard to understand this from Wei Yi. He might be thinking that provoking that pawn push is helpful for his chances to attack Hikaru if he castles to the left. But it's cost him a bunch of time, and could allow Hikaru to take over the initiative now!
He doesn't mind that his pawn has pushed up one square, knowing his knight can always assist it if needs be. Suddenly he's got the far better position, while Wei Yi will struggle to find a good plan.
They say mistakes often come in pairs, and here Wei Yi is sticking with his plan of launching an attack. But it's slower than Hikaru's own central play!
This is the problem. Hikaru's pieces flood into the game now, and Wei Yi's attack should be too slow. Huge edge for the American already!
A huge chance for Hikaru here!
He can take the pawn, with the point being that if Wei Wei Yi takes his queen then after knight takes knight check, he'll make sure to get his queen back with a winning advantage!
Somehow, Wei Yi is still alive here. But his pawns and pieces are poorly arranged, so Hikaru retains really big chances to win for now.
Excellent transition here to an even more convincing middlegame. The bishop pair, the active rook, the compact pawn chain. It's all in Hikaru's favor.
In particular, the light-squared bishop is monstrous along the long diagonal. Wei Yi should probably centralize his knight now, but it's hard to do when it will be immediately pressured by the enemy bishop.
Wei Yi does find the right way to continue. He needs this piece to spring to life immediately.
Wei Yi being coaxed into pushing the pawn in front of his king, which would weaken his light squares further and play into Hikaru's hands.
The torture continues here for Wei Yi, as Hikaru shuts out possible knight jumps.
Wei Yi might be worried about the rook sliding over, and is ready to move his king forward to save his pawns if so.
Hikaru highlighting the key drawback! Now Wei Yi's opened up a new diagonal that he's got to watch out for.
You get the feeling that just one more maneuver will decide matters in favor of Hikaru here!
The point is that if his rook is taken, then he'll win a pawn and recover his rook right after. A lovely shot that should break down the last of Wei Yi's resistance!
Forcing the king away from the defense of the rook!
Wei Yi looking to avoid going down without a fight, and activates his king. But there's just no entry points here!
Cutting out king advances, and also potentially setting up a mating net for the near future.
Wei Yi finally gets there with his king! Not over just yet...!
Hikaru needs to start marching his pawn forward!
He finds it!
Wow Hikaru has just blundered and is losing
Hikaru saves himself by the skin of his teeth, ending up with a naked king and running around knowing that the clock was his only ally! Wei Yi was completely losing going into the scramble, and then managed to outplay Hikaru for a second time in a row in the dying seconds of the game.
Armaggedon awaits!