the ruy lopez

Peter goes for a very classical approach, an opening he has even made a course on!

Leko is looking to make a central break asap, in order to gain space and hound Arjun's bishop.

a necessary resource

An essential reply to have 'in the pocket', since otherwise Arjun would be getting steamrolled in the center. This check buys him time.

a key pawn break

Arjun needed to contest the center before Leko himself would be able to push forward.

A somewhat provocative reply, as the queen's presence in the center means that Leko will be able to gain time attacking her with his queen's knight.

Arjun has been very clever with his well-timed checks, first with the bishop and now with the queen. Both designed to buy him time before Peter's center becomes too powerful.

Necessary, since otherwise the bishop dropping back would have been disastrous.

Peter shows his ambition!

He brings his king to the queenside, setting up possible pawn storms on the opposite flank down the line.

The position hangs in the balance

Not a big edge for Leko here, though if anything he should stand a little better owing to the space advantage in the center. But the fact that he has an isolated pawn does counter-balance things quite a bit.

more provocation!

I'm a little surprised by Arjun's choice here, as now Peter has the opportunity to push his isolated pawn forward and exert immediate pressure on the bishop. Usually that's desirable in these structures, so it'll be interesting to see what Arjun has in mind in response (if Leko does go for it).

??MISTAKE??

Right idea, wrong execution! It was best for Leko to first push his queenside pawn. The problem is that doing so now runs into a clever tactical sequence, as shown with the arrows after the next move.

Arjun might just be in the driver's seat, having bravely captured the pawn. It's true that there's some lines of attack against his king, but he has enough resources to hold. Meanwhile, he's also got a trick now: if Peter pushes his central pawn forward, Arjun can hit the rook and then sacrifice his bishop to end up with a nasty fork and a boatload of pawns.

While Arjun has the objective advantage here, in a rapid game it's almost negligible. Especially since in practice, it may prove much easier to play Leko's position as he has enduring attacking possibilities with the semi-open file on the right hand side.

If Arjun had to drop his bishop back, he'd be in trouble. But luckily for him, he can move his rook over and exploit the pin against Peter's queen.

Peter moves his queen forward in hope of increasing his attack, while also breaking the pin on his pawn.

A useful move, reducing the pressure along the file and gaining time against the invading queen.

Leko steps his queen away from the attack, and might be sizing up a pawn push to try to break down the structure in the future.

Arjun is outplaying leko!

Things are not looking good for the Hungarian here, as Arjun exploits the fact that Leko's kingside pawn is hanging. So now it's hard for Leko to keep the bishops on the board, and that will heavily reduce his attacking prospects.

Peter has been forced into trying to keep the position solid, but now he has no attack, a worse structure, and is a pawn down. This could be a nightmare for Leko as he is very likely to lose the first of the rapid games with the White pieces.

Eyeing up the many weak squares.

Tying Arjun's knight down to the defense of the rook.

Arjun has done a great job of finding a good moment to trade the queens. And while he's been left with doubled pawns, that might prove helpful for him to add pressure along the newly created semi-open file.

Arjun defends his advanced knight. At the right moment he may retreat it, opening up the pressure against Leko's kingside.

Arjun might be looking to anchor his knight with the pawn. Pushing it one more square would create an outpost.

LOW ON TIME!!

Peter is trying his best to muddy the waters, but you just get the feeling like Arjun is soon going to add the finishing touches to this position and bring home the full point. Being down to less than 1 minute on the clock is also brutal for Leko's chances to hold on.

A small victory here for Leko, as he might now be able to damage Arjun's structure on the queenside.

Sometimes a single pawn is not enough to win, but here Arjun's active pieces and 3 vs 1 majority on the kingside is too big of a hurdle to climb.

You can't fault Leko's play over the last few moves, as he's posting as much resistance as possible. He would love to mobilize his pawn majority on the queenside and generate some threats of his own!

Arjun is maneuvering well, and he could now drop his knight back towards the center to defend his key pawn while also pressuring the last of Leko's kingside pawns.

This is an even more human option, and now there are some real attacking threats against Peter's king.

Leko is trying to wriggle out of the attacking threats, but now Arjun can bring his rook into play straight away.

Leko resigns!

This one looks close to over, as Arjun defends his rook and at the same time adds to the weight against Leko's pinned knight. In fact, just as I write this, Peter Leko throws in the towel. A huge blow for the Hungarian grandmaster, who now has the near-impossible task of winning on demand from the Black side against a clearly in form Arjun Erigaisi. Let's see if he can manage to stay alive in the World Cup!