The American higher seeds, GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Jeffery Xiong, won the last of the round of 64 matches on day five of the Chess.com Global Chess Championship. Although the favorites ultimately won, the underdogs gave them serious fights, often taking the early lead and pushing their potent opponents to bring out their best game to win.

The round of 32 begins on Wednesday, September 21, starting at 4 a.m. PT / 13:00 CEST.

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In a dynamic game one battle, Kravtsiv gained an edge leading into the endgame against Caruana and created two powerful connected passed pawns in the center. 

Kravtsiv was on the verge of winning the second game when Caruana discovered a clever way to create a passed pawn, swinging the rook ending in his favor.

With the momentum on his side, Caruana squeezed a positional advantage into a material one in game three to take over the match lead.

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk was another underdog to take the early lead, utilizing his time edge to get the upper hand in an equal rook ending. Xiong immediately struck back, winning the next two games. Their highly tactical second game is our Game of the Day. 

In game three, Xiong won material in the ending and converted seamlessly despite the resourceful Bortnyk’s attempts to defend. 

After two draws, Nakamura pulled ahead in game three, gaining a comfortable advantage from the opening and breaking down Vasquez’s queenside to win material. 

Round of 64 Scoreboard