Hikaru
Wesley
Hikaru
 
Wesley
 
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1
1
2 turns without comments
2

This game has an amusing chance to become a position from the Sicilian Defense from Classical Chess!

With the white king having the possibility of getting castled quite early, Hikaru has the option of converting the position into a Sicilian Defense, it looks like.

Nf3
2
3
3 turns without comments
4

Hikaru indeed strives for a position from the Sicilian Defense, but not any of the classical variations

White strives to achieve a position with the domination of the light squares, where his light-colored bishop and his knights will exert pressure on the position from early on.

a4
4
5
2 turns without comments
5

Wesley has been playing decent-looking moves consistently, but he seems to be overlooking the fact that Hikaru can grab space in the queenside quickly here

As is usual in the variation of the Sicilian Defense where White hosts the light-squared bishop in the powerful long diagonal, White may be able to expand easily in the queenside now, which may be a long-term concern for Black.

Bg7
6
8
5 turns without comments
8

??MISTAKE??

An unnecessary weakening of the queenside, as well as giving up too many squares for the white pieces

If one notices the most important factor of the position here, the white knight will soon be occupying a central outpost. That is enough to understand the trouble that Black faces in achieving equality hereon.

b5
9
1 turn without comment
9

??MISTAKE??

It was not necessary for Wesley to open up the position even before mobilising all his pieces, especially the rook in the kingside

Things are working out quite easily for Hikaru, who has his task cut out. Thanks to Wesley's early unnecessary action in the opening stage itself, White will be able to soon control the queenside, apart from currently having a good command of the center.

c4
10
13
7 turns without comments
13

??MISTAKE??

More misadventure!

Wesley takes his queen out on a solo misadventure, whic will only allow Hikaru to harass the lady. More than anything, almost all of White's minor pieces occupy commanding positions, and Black is yet to even develop his pieces fully.

All this combined with Black's broken pawn structure, means that White almost has a winning advantage here.

00:28 Qxb2
14
15
4 turns without comments
16

!!GREAT MOVE!!

Ouch!

The black queen is trapped so soon. The fact that we warned about, when Wesley took the queen on a misadventure early on, has already turned out to be a conclusion, and Black faces material loss so soon.

Ne1
16
1 turn without comment
17

White wins material now, prompting Wesley to resign. A quick end to an unfortunate game...

Qb4

An unfortunately quick end to the match for Wesley!

A game where Wesley was unrecognizable. Hikaru seemed to know what he was doing from the very first moves of the game. Having a favorable Sicilian Defense setup in mind, Hikaru was seen to be conducting a sensible opening play when Wesley went berserk.

Playing on the queenside too soon prematurely, Wesley effected an unfortunate pawn break quickly and created trouble for himself too easily. Further taking his queen inside the white position on a misadventure, Wesley saw his early action end in disaster when his queen got trapped too easily.

An unfortunately quick end to the second game, especially as this hands over the match itself in favor of Hikaru, and Wesley gets eliminated so suddenly. But we did predict Hikaru's comparative strength in this version of chess even before the match!

With a comfortable draw in the first game, it might be advantage Hikaru in the second game

Hikaru is known for his ability to score wins with White pieces particularly, compared to his record with Black pieces. And we may even predict this as the reason for his safe play in the first game, where he seemed to play too straightforward to force equality at some point, instead of keeping the position in a flux and play for a win.