Let the action begin!
Shankland plays the black pieces and chooses the sharp Sicilian Defense!
Aronian develops his knight to a natural square, strengthening his control over the center.
Shankland advances his central pawn, freeing the diagonal for his light-squared bishop.
Aronian pushes his central pawn, looking to open up the position!
Shankland captures Aronian’s central pawn, opting for a pawn trade to relieve some tension in the middle.
Aronian recaptures the pawn with his knight, bringing it to a commanding central position.
Shankland develops his knight to an active square, attacking Aronian’s central pawn.
Aronian develops his knight, simultaneously defending his central pawn.
Shankland selects the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense, a classical and highly dynamic line.
Aronian develops his bishop, keeping the option to castle kingside open.
Shankland pushes his central pawn, creating space for his dark-squared bishop to enter the game.
Instead of the usual kingside castling, Aronian develops his bishop, a lesser played but solid move. He’s keeping his options open and aiming for long-term flexibility.
Shankland develops his knight.
Aronian pushes his kingside pawn, launching an early attack and setting the tone for an aggressive battle.
Shankland advances his pawn, trying to slow down Aronian’s kingside pawn storm.
Aronian pushes his f-pawn, bringing reinforcements to his kingside attack!
As Aronian presses on the kingside, Shankland begins play on the queenside! A classic counterattack strategy, when your opponent storms one flank, you create threats on the other.
Aronian keeps the kingside storm rolling, pushing his pawns to attack Shankland’s knight.
Instead of retreating his threatened knight, Shankland finds a clever intermediate move!
Aronian moves his bishop to a safe square, sidestepping Shankland’s threat.
Shankland is forced to retreat his knight to a passive square.
Aronian pushes his pawn, aiming to disrupt Shankland’s pawn formation!
Shankland cannot capture Aronian’s pawn, doing so would leave his e-pawn undefended.
Aronian repositions his bishop, pressuring Shankland to capture a pawn and accept a compromised structure.
Shankland captures Aronian’s pawn, but now he’s left with doubled and vulnerable pawns in the center.
Aronian repositions his bishop, creating a fork that attacks Shankland’s rook and the newly vulnerable e-pawn!
Shankland goes for a precise and necessary exchange sacrifice! He gives up material but gains dynamic compensation, active pieces and strong counterplay.
Aronian calmly takes the exchange sacrifice offered by Shankland.
Shankland places his knight in the center, landing it on a powerful outpost.
Aronian retreats his bishop, avoiding a trade and keeping bishop pair.
Shankland advances his pawn on the kingside, preparing to activate his queen and pressure Aronian’s bishop.
Shankland plays actively on the kingside, but Aronian responds with a queenside pawn push. Both players are creating threats on opposite wings, making this a dynamically imbalanced game.
Aronian has around 1 hour left, while Shankland still sits comfortably with 1 hour 30 minutes.
We’ve reached a fascinating, imbalanced position! Both kings remain in the center, and with material and positional imbalances everywhere, this one’s razor-sharp anything can happen!
A mistake from Shankland! He allows Aronian to open the a-file, giving White’s immediate activity on the queenside.
Aronian seizes his moment, capturing Shankland’s pawn on the queenside! The move aims to generate active play on the queenside.
Shankland captures Aronian’s pawn in the center, placing his knight on a central square.
Aronian’s inaccuracy restores balance to the position. Despite the evaluation evening out, the position remains highly complex and tactically rich, demanding precision from both players.
A slight inaccuracy by Shankland hands the initiative back to Aronian!
Aronian finds the perfect moment to move his queen and offer a queen trade. Will Shankland accept or decline?
Shankland declines the queen trade, keeping the queens in play. He’s choosing complications and counterplay over simplification, a good practical decision.
Aronian activates his bishop with a tempo, giving a check to Shankland’s king.
Shankland moves his king, escaping the check.
Aronian castles, securing his king and simultaneously activating his rook. The alignment against Shankland’s king adds serious attacking potential!
Shankland carefully steps his king further away, moving out of Aronian’s rook’s line of fire.
A big miss by Aronian! He was holding the advantage, but now Shankland has the opportunity to equalize.
Can Shankland find the precise continuation to equalize?
Shankland fails to find the critical line, and Aronian’s advantage is restored! The position remains complex, but Aronian now holds the initiative.
Aronian takes the advanced pawn, and Shankland cannot recapture with his knight, as his knight is pinned.
Shankland moves his queen, aiming to recapture Aronian’s pawn.
Aronian moves his queen, attacking Shankland’s pinned knight in the center!
Shankland’s knight is pinned and under attack, leaving him no choice but to exchange queens to avoid losing material.
Aronian trades queens, confident that the resulting endgame is in his favor.
Shankland recaptures the queen back, with his knight.
With both rook and knight under threat, Aronian opts to save his rook, keeping his material advantage.
Shankland captures Aronian’s knight. Even with two minor pieces for Aronian’s rook, Aronian’s passed a-pawn on the queenside makes the position extremely dangerous for Shankland!
Aronian pushes his a-pawn forward, already creating serious threats!
Shankland moves his bishop to prevent Aronian’s rook from invading the eighth rank.
Aronian has the upper hand in the endgame and will look to press his advantage to secure a big win today.
Shankland’s rook is tied down to passive defense against Aronian’s dangerous passed a-pawn.
Aronian pushes his c-pawn, attacking Shankland’s bishop.
Shankland moves his bishop to avoid capture by Aronian’s c-pawn.
Aronian gives up his rook for Shankland’s two minor pieces, emerging with an extra pawn. His advanced a-pawn remains a serious threat, keeping Shankland under pressure.
Move 40 is here, and both Aronian and Shankland receive 30 extra minutes.
Aronian initiates a rook trade, transitioning into a same-colored bishop endgame. With his extra pawn and active pieces, Aronian looks completely winning!
Aronian maneuvers his king toward the queenside to support his passed a-pawn.
Shankland advances his pawn, but it leaves gaps in his structure. Aronian will look to exploit these weaknesses immediately.
Aronian retreats his king, taking advantage of gaps created by Shankland’s kingside pawn move.
After six consecutive draws and a string of solid, risk-free games, Levon Aronian finally strikes and in style!
Aronian scored a crucial victory over Sam Shankland in 52 moves, marking his first win since Round 1 and putting himself right back in the title race.
The opening was the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation, and as expected, the game quickly turned into a tactical storm. The middlegame was a true roller coaster, with evaluations swinging back and forth as both players navigated a maze of complications. Aronian’s creativity clashed with Shankland’s resilience, but once the dust settled, it was Aronian who entered the endgame with a clear advantage.
From there, Aronian showed his trademark precision, converting confidently to secure the full point. With this win, Aronian closes the gap to just half a point behind leaders Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So.
A perfect time to strike before the rest day and with momentum now on his side, Aronian is back in the chase! See you after the rest day for Round 9 and more live action!
We’re back with live commentary as the tournament heats up in Round 8. After seven rounds, Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So share the lead at 5/7 points, while Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann are next with 4/7, chasing the top spot. Today, we’re following the game of one of the chasers to the top, Levon Aronian.
Aronian comes in after a quick draw against Ray Robson in Round 7, continuing his risk-free streak of six consecutive draws, while Shankland scored a strong victory against Abhimanyu Mishra, sitting on 3.5 points.
The big question: will Aronian continue his conservative approach with another draw, or will he take his chances today and try to strike to close the gap on the leaders?