Semifinals: Carlsen vs Abdusattorov and Aronian vs Caruana
Ding Liren (CHN) will face Alireza Firouzja (FRA) and D Gukesh will be up against Vincent Keymer (GER) in a battle for fifth to eighth place.
Carlsen - Firouzja: 1-0 (TB: 2-0)
Magnus Carlsen won the must-win second game against Alireza Firouzja.
Game 2
14.d5! is a nice temporary pawn sacrifice to fragment Black's queenside pawn structure further. 14...cxd5 15.0-0-0 Rc8 16.Nxd5 White slowly built on his positional advantage and won the game, forcing tie-breaks.
The first Rapid tie-break game seemed to be heading towards a draw in a knight and pawn vs bishop and two pawns endgame.
Firouzja - Carlsen, Tie-break Rapid 1
Ideally this should end in a draw. However, in a practical game with less time on the clock and the opponent being endgame expert, White blundered eventually.
A peculiar start by Firouzja in the second rapid tie-break 1.e4 h6 2.d4 Bh7 and Black could not get out of the gate. Carlsen won the game comfortably and advanced to the Semifinals.
Aronian - Keymer: 1-0
Levon Aronian made a short work of Vincent Keymer in just 20 moves.
9...g5? prompted White to castle on the queenside 10.0-0-0 gxf4 11.Nc5 White capitalized on Black's stranded king in the center. He launched a brutal attack and own the game in another nine moves.
Photo Gallery
Magnus Carlsen spectates Gukesh - Caruana battle
For more Quarterfinals Game 2 and tie-break photos, please click here.
Video Gallery
Format
Time: Rapid and Standard
• Round robin: rapid 25 min for the game + 10 sec per move according to A5 of the FIDE laws of chess
• Tiebreak: first direct encounter, second: number of wins, third: Sonneborn-Berger
• Quarter-, semi- and finals: Two games standard 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes rest of the game additional 30 seconds per move
In Case of Tiebreak
1:1 in quarter-, semi-final or final. Tiebreak in the evening:
• two rapid games 15 min for the game + 10 sec per move
• two blitz games 5 min for the game + 2 sec per move
• then one more blitz game until a winner is found
Replay live stream
Schedule
9th and 10th February: playoffs for starting order - Rapid
11th and 12th February: Quarterfinals - Classical
13th and 14th February: Semifinals - Classical
15th and 16th February: Finals - Classical
Replay Quarterfinals Game 2 and Tie-break games
QF Game 2 results
Ding Liren - Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 0.5-0.5
Magnus Carlsen - Alireza Firouzja: 1-0 (2-0)
D Gukesh - Fabiano Caruana: 0.5-0.5
Levon Aronian - Vincent Keymer: 1-0
Semifinal matches
Nodirbek Abdusattorov - Magnus Carlsen
Fabiano Caruana - Levon Aronian
5th - 8th place
Ding Liren - Alireza Firouzja
D Gukesh - Vincent Keymer
