Our exciting contest continues without <OhioChessFan>, who keeps begging <chessmoron> not to count the rounds already played. <cm> continues to laugh at <OCF>. <GE> and <juan> continue to dominate things, with <GE> in the lead in 3 Rankers and <juan> in the other.

In other news, an undercover investigative reporter has discovered that <Firouzjias> is in fact Ali Firouzja in an unconvincing disguise. Apparently Firouzja is performing so poorly in the Candidates, he's hoping to at least win something here. Good luck with that. <GE> engaged in an admirable act of gamesmanship by announcing that the 24th will be an off day for the players, and that they'll come back to play on the 15th. If you're confused, that's the point, as <GE> is hoping people end up missing the next round. That's the kind of Anything to Win attitude that's so sorely lacking around here. Meanwhile, <juan> got on Rapport's bad side by accusing him of only playing for draws. And not to be outdone, <Messiah> infuriated Carlsen by mocking his voice and hair.

<Firouzja-Caruana, 0-1 in 42 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['Golden Executive', '0-1', '26']]

2nd Under, 6 points: []
3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: []
3rd Over, 1 point1: []

===

<Nakamura-Ding, 1/2-1/2 in 42 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['Penguincw', '1/2-1/2', '41'], ['Firouzjias', '1/2-1/2', '41']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['Golden Executive', '1/2-1/2', '40']]

3rd Under, 5 points: [['jun31', '1/2-1/2', '39'], ['chessmoron', '1/2-1/2', '39']]

Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['Messiah', '1/2-1/2', '93']]

3rd Over, 1 point1: []

===

<Nepo-Duda, 1-0 in 35 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: []
2nd Under, 6 points: []
3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: [['chessmoron', '1-0', '40']]

2nd Over, 2 points: [['Penguincw', '1-0', '41']]

3rd Over, 1 point1: [['juan31', '1-0', '48']]

===

<Radjabov-Rapport, 1/2-1/2 in 40 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: [['juan31', '1/2-1/2', '40']]
Under, 7 points: []
2nd Under, 6 points: []
3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['Penguincw', '1/2-1/2', '41']]

Perfect # moves predictions for this round goes to

<juan31>

Highest scores in the Bonus Ranker: 6 points: <chessmoron>, <Golden Executive> , <juan31>

Results:

Moves Ranker - Through <Round 6>

Score, UserID, Over, Under, Exact

42, Golden Executive, 0, 6, 0
35, Firouzjias, 0, 5, 0
31, Penguincw, 1, 4, 0
24, juan31, 0, 2, 1
17, alfamikewhiskey, 1, 2, 0
16, chessmoron, 3, 1, 0
10, Messiah, 1, 1, 0

===

Bonus Ranker - Through <Round 6>

Score, UserID, 3-Over, 2-Over, 3-Under, 2-Under

49, juan31, 1, 3, 6, 2
35, chessmoron, 2, 0, 3, 3
31, Golden Executive, 1, 3, 0, 4
25, Penguincw, 1, 4, 2, 1
16, Messiah, 0, 2, 0, 2
6, alfamikewhiskey, 0, 0, 0, 1
6, Firouzjias, 2, 2, 0, 0

===

Moves+Bonus Ranker - Through <Round 6>

Score, UserID

73, Golden Executive
73, juan31
56, Penguincw
51, chessmoron
41, Firouzjias
26, Messiah
23, alfamikewhiskey

===

Moves Ranker (# of 1st place UNDER/OVER) - Through <Round 6>

Score,UserID

<chessmoron> decided to help his cause by posting the results of the second round and hoping nobody would notice. <OCF> did notice, but when he pointed that out to <cm>, <cm> simply glared at <OCF> and <OCF> quickly walked away. Despite <cm's> admirable effort to cheat his way to the top, <GE> and <juan> are the Nepo and Fabi of this contest, and continue to dominate the proceedings. There is no proof, well, not convincing proof, but there is no irrefutable proof that <GE> and <juan> conspired to rig the contest in their favor in a phone call they had before the contest started. Since there's nothing that would hold up in court-probably-<OCF> won't repeat that rumor to protect the innocent, cough, cough.

In other news, investigative reporters have determined <Firouzjias> was new to the Chessgames.com site the very day this contest started, fueling the theory that he's really Ali Firouzja in disguise. <juan> has convinced himself he can gain insight into the tournament by watching livestreams of Giri and Naka, not realizing they are analyzing games from the last Candidates tournament. <Messiah> continues his odd effort to win a prize for the most complaints registered against <chessgames.com>. He was so prolific he even put site gadfly <Harry Lime> to sleep by his unending carping.

<Caruana-Radjabov, 1-0 in 56 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['chessmoron', '1-0', '41'], ['Penguincw', '1-0', '41']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['juan31', '1-0', '40'], ['Golden Executive', '1-0', '40']]

3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['Messiah', '1-0', '72']]
3rd Over, 1 point1: []

===

<Ding-Firouzja, 1/2-1/2 in 54 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['chessmoron', '1/2-1/2', '42'], ['Firouzjias', '1/2-1/2', '42']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['Penguincw', '1/2-1/2', '41']]

3rd Under, 5 points: [['Golden Executive', '1/2-1/2', '40']]

Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: []
3rd Over, 1 point1: []

===

<Duda-Nakamura, 1/2-1/2 in 40 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['chessmoron', '1/2-1/2', '36']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['Messiah', '1/2-1/2', '25']]

3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['Penguincw', '1/2-1/2', '41']]

3rd Over, 1 point1: [['Firouzjias', '1/2-1/2', '42']]

===

<Rapport-Nepo, 0-1 in 43 moves.>

Perfect # moves predictions for this round goes to

NONE

Highest scores in the Bonus Ranker: 11 points: <Golden Executive>

Results:

Moves Ranker - Through <Round 7>

Score, UserID, Over, Under, Exact

49, Firouzjias, 0, 7, 0
42, Golden Executive, 0, 6, 0
38, Penguincw, 1, 5, 0
37, chessmoron, 3, 4, 0
24, juan31, 0, 2, 1
17, alfamikewhiskey, 1, 2, 0
10, Messiah, 1, 1, 0

===

Bonus Ranker - Through <Round 7>

Score, UserID, 3-Over, 2-Over, 3-Under, 2-Under

55, juan31, 1, 3, 6, 3
42, Golden Executive, 1, 3, 1, 5
35, chessmoron, 2, 0, 3, 3
33, Penguincw, 1, 5, 2, 2
24, Messiah, 0, 3, 0, 3
7, Firouzjias, 3, 2, 0, 0
6, alfamikewhiskey, 0, 0, 0, 1

===

Moves+Bonus Ranker - Through <Round 7>

Score, UserID

84, Golden Executive
79, juan31
72, chessmoron
71, Penguincw
56, Firouzjias
34, Messiah
23, alfamikewhiskey

===

Moves Ranker (# of 1st place UNDER/OVER) - Through <Round 7>

Score,UserID

The contest got much more exciting as we currently have 4 different people leading the 4 Rankers. <GE> and <juan> continue to lead a Ranker each, and <chessmoron> moved into the lead in one. <Ali Firouzja> proved he can predict chess better than he can play it, as he moved into sole lead in Moves Ranker and a tied lead in #1 Ranker.

In other news, <Messiah> apparently received a temporary ban for spamming, because he's repeatedly posted the kibitz, "Games have started". Site admins declined comment when <OCF> challenged them. <Messiah> learned his lesson as he decided not to make that post for the current round. <amw> was embarrassed as he overslept and missed the round. Word on the street was that he imbibed a little too much of the potent potable in his user name. <OCF> continues to beg <cm> to not count the first round and <cm> continues to laugh in his face.