1. d2d4 The third round saw four draws but some interesting games. Ding Liren showed more good preparation with White and clearly looks like he came ready with a lot of ideas, but his actual gameplay has been lackluster.  The most interesting game of the day saw Firouzja play his first game with the white pieces. He managed to put Hikaru under a lot of pressure, but ultimately was unable to win against an extremely good defense. 1... g8f6  2. c2c4  2... e7e6  3. b1c3  3... f8b4  4. d1c2  4... e8g8  5. a2a3  5... b4c3  6. c2c3  6... d7d5  7. c1g5 All of this is very topical. Now, in the past, Hikaru has preferred h6, which he has clearly analyzed very well. 7... d5c4  8. c3c4  8... b7b6  9. a1d1  9... c8a6  10. c4a4  10... h7h6  11. g5h4  11... d8e7  12. g1f3  12... f8d8 We are still following a heavy mainline of theory. Hikaru has had this position some 5 times in the past, though generally from a different move order. 13. a4c2 But now this is rare. In the upcoming moves, Hikaru really spent a lot of time, and I was a bit worried. The position is certainly not bad yet, but it is very sharp, and Firouzja had clearly come well-prepared. 13... c7c5  14. e2e4  14... a6f1  15. h1f1  15... g7g5  16. f3g5  16... h6g5  17. h4g5  17... b8c6  18. c2c1 Firouzja was still blitzing to here. According to the machine, everything holds for Black. But this is very deceptive and in human terms, it looks quite challenging to play. 18... d8d4  19. d1d4  19... c6d4  20. c1f4  20... d4c2 I like this decision a lot. It is not the best move, and White has a little pull in the endgame, but I think it should be defensible. Simplifying down a bit will help the defense become easier. 21. e1d1  21... e7d7  22. d1c2  22... d7a4  23. c2b1  23... a4e4  24. f4e4  24... f6e4  25. g5f4 Black's position is a bit unpleasant thanks to White's potential for an outside passed pawn mass on the kingside, but it should be defensible. From here on out, Hikaru started to play really well. 25... e4f6 Regrouping the knight to d5 is a good place to start. 26. h2h4  26... f6d5  27. f4d2  27... f7f5  28. g2g3  28... g8f7  29. f2f3  29... a8h8  30. d2g5  30... c5c4  31. g3g4  31... b6b5 White surely has better chances, but it is very hard for him to coordinate the kingside pawns. The bishop is stuck on g5, but h4-h5 is not really a thing if Black can respond with Rh8-g8. 32. f1d1 I like this decision a lot. White's best plan will be to threaten gxf5, forcing Black to exchange the f-pawns. Then, the king on f7 will become less secure. 32... f5g4  33. f3g4  33... a7a5  34. h4h5 Now, this move becomes possible. It looks like there is an issue on the g-file, but because Black was forced to exchange the f-pawns, the check on f1 messes up his coordination. 34... h8g8  35. d1f1 Black's position is really difficult, but Hikaru played amazing to keep it together. One of his must underappreciated traits is how good a defender he is. I've only ever gotten one bad position against him in classical chess, and I got crushed. I've gotten a lot of good positions... but whenever his position becomes close to critical, it is like playing against a tablebase. I've drawn every other time. 35... f7e8 Now, White's pawn is forced forward to h6 to avoid losing material. But, this allows Black to set up a light square blockade. 36. h5h6  36... g8f8 The reason my computer disliked Ke8 was that it thought White wins after trading rooks here. Only when I let it run in this position did it realize that will be a draw.