The 2nd round of the World Cup saw the top 50 seeds enter the draw (having the top seed play the bottom seed in round 1 was changed after the 2019 World Cup, for some reason). This had the odd effect of players who had won their games on the top boards in round 1, suddenly end up on boards 51 and below for round 2.
This also resulted in larger crowds than on the first few days, with Gukesh being the obvious attraction. However he was held to a draw by a determined Nogerbek, and will have to survive with the black pieces tomorrow to not be eliminated. A number of other top seeds also had to work hard for a draw, with Kuybokarov drawing with Pragg on board 3, along with Giri and So also drawing on boards 4+5. Further down Bobby Cheng drew with Peter Leko, making it a solid day for the Australian contingent.
Today I was supervising the middle boards, and saw a lot of interesting chess. The highlight was a nice attack by Esipenko, dismantling Abasov in 26 moves. Playing 'guess the move' I spotted the basic sacrificial idea, but Espipenko played it in a more precise manner (the difference between GM calculation and the rest of us). If you want to play through the game (and all others) you can do so at https://worldcup2025.fide.com/live/
While the tournament has not seen any major upsets so far, this all may change tomorrow. Set your alarm to 8:30 pm (Canberra time) and tune in for another evenings of live chess action.
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