Freestyle Chess Tour Paris: India's challenge ends as Nakamura beats Erigaisi; Gukesh loses again

The quarter-finals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris have already produced high drama, with all four semi-final spots now confirmed. Fabiano Caruana, who barely made it past the round-robin stage, showed composure under pressure to edge past local boy Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1.5-0.5 and become the first semifinalist on Thursday.

Five-time world champion and the reigning world no.1, Magnus Carlsen, made light work of Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov, securing a 1.5-0.5 win to storm into the semis. Carlsen had won the first game against Nodirbek on Wednesday while playing with white pieces. He drew the second game with black.

American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura displayed dominance to defeat India’s Arjun Erigaisi with the same 1.5-0.5 scoreline and clinch the third semifinal spot. Nakamura drew his first quarter-final game against Erigaisi while playing with black and managed to secure a win in the second match with white.

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Keymer advances after a tiebreak

The only unresolved clash was between Weissenhaus leg winner Vincent Keymer and round-robin topper Ian Nepomniachtchi, who drew both of their classical games across two days of the quarter-finals. The match went into a tiebreaker.

Keymar emerged victorious with a 2.5-1.5 scoreline, winning the first of the two rapid games and securing a solid draw in the second one to qualify for the semi-finals.

Keymar will now face Nakamura in the semi-finals. Nepomniachtchi, on the other hand, will come against Erigaisi for the 5th-8th place classification. Meanwhile, Caruana and Carlsen are set for a heavyweight clash in the other semi-final bracket, scheduled to be held across two days on 11th and 12th April.

In the 9th-12th place playoff, Richard Rapport won the match against current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju with a score of 1.5-0.5 after drawing the second game on Thursday. Gukesh had lost the first match a day earlier.

Praggnanandhaa clinched his 9th-12th place minimatch win over compatriot Vidit Gujrathi, who finished last. Pragg secured victory by defeating Vidit in the first game and holding a confident draw in the second game, taking the match with a score of 1.5-0.5.