Freestyle Chess Semi-finals Highlights: Caruana, Carlsen play out 67-move draw; Arjun loses to Nepomniachtchi

The Hikaru Nakamura vs Vincent Keymer showdown doesn’t quite go the distance the way Magnus Carlsen vs Fabiano Caruana does. What matters though, is the fact that all four players will be starting on level terms in Game 2 on Saturday.

Both games in the 5th-8th Classification round on Friday end on a decisive note, with Arjun Erigaisi losing in 41 moves after trailing Russian GM Nepomniachtchi for the better part of the contest.

The other game takes five fewer moves to reach its conclusion with Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek clinching victory with what Stockfish considers a masterstroke.

Pragg commits a blunder in his 43rd move (Bxg2) as both players blitz through their moves in the business end of their game. That, however, doesn’t really affect the outcome of Game 1 as both players shake hands three moves later.

A draw appeared to be on the cards for the longest time, but it’s not until both players are left with their kings on the board that they finally shake hands:

As for the other game involving an Indian, Pragg has ensured Rapport has only a slight advantage with minutes left on the clock for both players after a couple of moves that are appreciated by the Stockfish chess engine (29. Kd5 and 31. Ke6).

The eval bar is a lopsided 5.6 in the Russian’s favour at the moment after 39 moves, with Arjun having just six minutes left on the clock compared to 20-plus for his opponent. Appears a formality for Nepo from hereon, unless the Indian GM is able to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

PS: Look at the arrangement of the pieces on the board! Quite artistic, one would reckon.

Both players have a rook left on the board, with Carlsen and Caruana also having a bishop and a knight respectively. Thrilling endgame? Or a stalemate? Stay tuned to find out how Game 1 of their semi-final ends.

Here’s what the board looks like in the classification match between R Praggnanandhaa and Richard Rapport:

Summary of the game so far:

1. c4 c5
2. Bxh7 Bxh2
3. d4 cxd4
4. Qxd4 f6
5. e4 Qb6
6. Ne2 Qc6
7. Nhg3 Bxg1
8. Kxg1 Ng6
9. Bxg8 Kxg8
10. b3 b5
11. Qd5+ Qxd5
12. cxd5 e6
13. Nd4 exd5
14. Nxb5 Nce7
15. Rd1 Bf7
16. Nd6

The eval bar currently reads 0.9 in Nepo’s favour after the Russian plays a series of solid moves (16. Rb6, 17. Bc3 and 18. Qd2). Nepomniachtchi also has twice as much time on his hand after 20 moves compared to Arjun.

Summary of the game so far:

1. c4 c6
2. Ng3 Ng6
3. d4 d5
4. c5 f6
5. e3 o-o
6. f4 e6
7. o-o Nce7
8. b4 Qc8
9. Nd3 Nh4
10. a4 a5
11. bxa5 Bc7
12. Bc2 Bg6
13. Rb1 Nhf5
14. Nxf5 Nxf5
15. Qe2 Nh6
16. Rb6 Nf7
17. Bc3 Re8
18. Qd2 Bxb6
19. axb6 Qd7
20. a5 Qe7

Both Richard Rapport and R Praggnanandhaa have played a couple of interesting moves so far. While the Hungarian GM takes Pragg’s knight with his light-squared bishop (9. Bxg8), which promptly gets captured by the black King, the Indian GM later accepts Rapport’s offer for a queen exchange in the 11th move.

The Indian, meanwhile, suddenly finds himself with a time advantage over his opponent.

Here’s what the board looks like in Game 1 of the Carlsen vs Caruana semi-final, in which both players have under an hour to go:

“I’m very glad that he’s (Vincent Keymer) doing very well in Freestyle. I think it’s partly about the confidence. He did so well in Weissenhaus. So it’s always nice to have this kind of confidence that you can again do well. I think that’s also partly what I have been struggling with that I’m not as confident in Freestyle as in the other formats.

“Even in standard chess, his general understanding is very, very good. So maybe he has some kind of special feeling where the pieces belong, stuff like that. But I think it’s mostly about confidence,” says Gukesh.

Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa find themselves in similar positions at the moment – both are playing with black pieces, and their opponents are slightly ahead on the eval bar and have a considerable time advantage over them.

Here’s what the heart-rates look like of the players currently in action in Paris:

After Carlsen advances his dark-squared bishop to e5, Caruana decides to initiate a series of exchanges by capturing the Norwegian’s knight with his light-squared bishop (Bxg6), which promptly gets taken off the board by a pawn (hxg6). Caruana then decides to advance his knight, capturing a pawn (Nxc5) in the process.

Here’s how things stand in the ongoing battle between Arjun Erigaisi and Ian Nepomniachtchi, with latter playing with white pieces.

Carlsen is having a patient game here after revealing his struggle with opening moves.

1.c4 Ng6

2.Ng3 c5

Both Praggnanandhaa and Rapport have already captured two pawns each. This is the most aggressive board of all. The moves are provided at the left bottom of the image attached here.

All moves so far:

1.c4 c6

2.Ng3 Ng6

3.d4 d5

4.c5 f6

A different response from Carlsen as he plays Ng6 after Caruana played c4. Most of the players went with c6 in reply to c4.

Nepomniachtchi started with c4 followed by c6 from Arjun. Ian picked Ng3 as the second move followed by Ng6 from Arjun.

c5 has been the last move from Ian.

All moves so far:

1.c4 c6

2.Ng3 Ng6

3.d4 d5

4.c5

Keymer replies with c6 after Nakamura plays c4. Carlsen is still to reply in his game after Caruana also played c4 on the opening move.

Caruana starts with c4 against Carlsen. It is the same for Nakamura against Keymer. Rapport also opts for c4 against Praggnananhaa while Nepomniachtchi went with c4 as well.

Check the opening board position for the semi-finals. It will be the same for both matches.

Semi-finals line-up:

Magnus Carlsen vs Fabiano Caruana

Hikaru Nakamura vs Vincent Keymer

The semi-finals will be played over two matches in Classical control. If scores are tied at the end then tiebreakers will be employed.