Freestyle Chess Semi-finals Day 2 Highlights: Arjun defeats Nepomniachtchi; Carlsen, Hikaru set for dream final

Credit to Nepomniachtchi for putting up a terrific fight in the second rapid tie-break game facing a must-win situation.

Arjun, however, showed why he is a force to be reckoned with in the Freestyle format, punching his way out of a tight spot to steer the game to a 78-move stalemate after collecting back-to-back wins against the Russian GM!

Here’s what the board looks like at the end of the contest:

Excellent fightback by Arjun against Nepomniachtchi to keep his hopes of facing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the 5th-place playoff alive. What allowed him to escape was a blunder by the Russian (Re3) in the 47th move. The ongoing game has now lasted 60 moves!

Arjun Erigaisi, meanwhile, has fought back from a tight situation to keep his hopes of collecting a draw in the second rapid playoff alive.

Local favourite MVL wins the second rapid playoff in 29 moves to keep his hopes of finishing fifth alive. He now awaits the winner of the other 5th-8th place playoff clash between Arjun Erigaisi and Ian Nepomniachtchi, in which the latter faces a must-win situation.

The French GM has his Queen and his rook advancing towards the black King, and is a solid favourite to advance to the 5th-6th playoffs.

The Indian GM advances his rook in an attempt to counter the Russian’s bold charge and try and steer the game towards a stalemate.

Nepo opts for en passant in his latest move (exf6), to which Arjun responds by capturing the advancing pawn with his knight. What helps the Russian GM’s case is the fact that he has a sizeable time lead over his opponent.

Both Arjun Erigaisi and Ian Nepomniachtchi have made played some questionable moves so far in the second rapid tie-break game. Arjun, however, finds himself ahead on the eval bar at the moment with a slightly better position.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also opt for a 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 opening. Maxime brings his knight (Nb3) out just like Ian Nepomniachtchi, but Nodirbek decides to deviate from Arjun Erigaisi’s path by opting for e5 in his third move.

Arjun and Nepo opt for a c4 c5 opening with the latter playing with white pieces, and bring out their knights in their second moves. Both players also make a capture in the fourth move, with the Indian GM advancing his rook (Rxd5).

Starting position number 216 is picked in the draw 10 minutes before the start of the second round of rapid tie-breaks.

The board’s quite crowded at the middle at the time of Nodirbek and MVL shaking hands for a stalemate in the first of the two rapid games, with the score currently reading 1.5-1.5. Whoever wins the next game will face either Arjun Erigaisi or Ian Nepomniachtchi for the fifth place starting Sunday.

After a stunning victory in 24 moves in the second Standard game earlier today, Erigaisi keeps the party going on Saturday as he wins the first of the two rapid games in 39 moves while playing with white pieces.

The Indian Grandmaster has Ian Nepomniachtchi’s King on the with his rooks on the move. Both players had agreed to a Queen exchange earlier in the game. The Russian has a light-squared bishop, a knight and a rook left on the board. Enough for him to fight back?

How costly will the decision to capture the pawn on the c file with his Queen (Qxc5) prove for the Uzbekistani GM in the first of the rapid tie-breaks? Stay tuned to find out.

Ian Nepomniachtchi’s heart-rate had been high for the better part of the second Standard game earlier today and it’s no different in the first of the two Rapid tie-breaks against Arjun Erigaisi.

The Indian GM remains in the lead at the moment and registering a leveling win Game 2 earlier today.

And like Arjun and Nepo, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also make some early captures and also castle in their ninth moves.

Arjun and Nepo opt for a b3 b6 opening with the former continuing to play with white pieces. And given this is a shorter format, both players blitz out their initial set of moves, making a couple of captures along the way.

The two tie-break encounters will have starting position number 033, in which the two knights are placed side by side between the bishops and the King is flanked by a rook on either side.

Don’t go anywhere. Action will resume just a few minutes from now!

After collecting draws on Friday, Carlsen and Hikaru highlight why they occupy the top-two spots in the latest FIDE Ratings as they defeat the two finalists of the Weissenhaus leg in February.

Keymer had a fairytale triumph in Weissenhaus, defeating Carlsen in the semi-finals before beating Caruana in the final. Unfortunately for the 20-year-old German Grandmaster, he won’t be able to pull off an encore in the ‘City of Light’.

Carlsen vs Hikaru though… it does not get better than that in chess, at least in the current generation. Tania Sachdev, who’s on commentary for Chess.com, describes the showdown as the ‘El Clasico’ of chess.

Vachier-Lagrave defeats Abdusattorov in 39 moves while playing with white pieces to preserve his hopes of finishing fifth.

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are leading against Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer respectively, with the eval bar strongly in their favour at the moment.

The eval bar currently reads 4.6 in favour of the Indian Grandmaster, who has a rook and a bishop staring menacingly at Rapport’s King with his Queen lurking in the distance.

The French GM has been in the lead since producing a hat-trick of solid moves (13. Bf5, 14. e4 and 15. g4) in the middle game, and currently has the black King on the run with his Queen and light-squared bishop. The eval bar reads 3.0 in his favour.

Keymer is a lot calmer than the experienced American Grandmaster despite the fact that his opponent is slightly ahead at the moment.

Pragg capitalises on a blunder by the Hungarian GM (22. c4) which is followed shortly after by another questionable move (24. Qxd2). The Indian, in response, consolidates his position with a couple of solid moves (25. Nxc4 and 26. Red1).

With the two players finishing level at 1-1 at the end of the two Standard games, Arjun and Nepo will face off in two Rapid games with a time control of 10+10 (10 minutes each with a 10-second increment per move). The two will then face off in two Blitz games with a 5+2 time control if the scores remain level after the Rapid games. And if that doesn’t separate them, then Arjun and Nepo will battle it out in an Armageddon showdown.

Here’s what the board looks like for the upcoming Rapid tie-breaks, in which Arjun plays with white pieces in the first game:

Arjun gives Nepo a check with his Queen in the 18th move and later consolidates his position by charging his rook (Rxf5) and knight (Nxf5+) in successive moves. And by the time the Indian gives him a check with his bishop (Bxe5+), Nepo knows it’s as good as over.

What a turnaround by Arjun today, winning in just 24 moves after losing in 41 on Friday!

Fabiano Caruana decides to move his Queen a square to the left along the backline (b8), which the Stockfish engine disagrees with. The world No 1 is leading on the eval bar at the moment.

There’s a massive difference in accuracy between Arjun Erigaisi (97.3) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (79) too. After advancing his Queen, the Indian GM decides to take the Russian’s knight that was positioned close to his half off the board, sacrificing a bishop in the process.

The eval bar now reads a whopping 3.9 in favour of the Indian Grandmaster, who suddenly boosts his chances of taking the contest into the tie-breaks. Arjun’s decision to move his Queen to d8 in his 12th move gets a thumbs up from the Stockfish engine, which doesn’t appreciate the Russian’s response (g6).

That might be the reason why Arjun finds himself in a strong position against the Russian GM and ahead of the eval bar.

Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave currently find themselves ahead of their opponents – Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov respectively – on the eval bar.

Erigaisi and Vachier-Lagrave, meanwhile, are fighting for survival, having lost their opening games on Friday. Though the stakes are a lot higher in Carlsen’s case as he’s fighting for a spot in the final.

It’s a similar scenario at Pragg vs Rapport, where the two players have produced a total of just seven moves so far.

Arjun Erigaisi is the calmest of the lot while his opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi is the only one with a heart rate above 100.

Both players, meanwhile, have brought their knights forward, with Arjun also keeping his Queen close by.

Moves so far:

1. c4 c5

2. b3 b6

3. d4 cxd4

4. Qxd4 Nf6

5. Ne3 Nc6

6. Qd2 e6

7. Nf3 Ne5

8. Bb2 d6

9. O-O-O Bb7

Erigaisi will need all the advantage that he can get as trails Ian Nepomniachtchi after losing Game 1 of their 5th-8th classification game on Friday. Pragg doesn’t have that headache, having played out a sedate draw with Richard Rapport in Game 1.

After a c4 c5 opening, it isn’t long before Carlsen – playing with white pieces – and Caruana start taking pieces off the board. Caruana draws first blood with a pawn capture (3. cxd4) in his third move and the world No 1 responds by advancing his Queen (Qxd4).

Weissenhaus champion Vincent Keymer isn’t that quick with his opening move either, taking nine minutes and 21 seconds for his d4 opening.