Each day of the group stage, players play two Fast Classic games (45 minutes plus 30 seconds a move) against the same opponent, with colours reversed. A win is 3 points, a draw 1. On the 12th of November, 13 of the 24 games were decisive, three more than on the first day.
Caruana crushes Pragg
In the first game Pragg had the black pieces, and on move four he surprised everyone!
Fabi did not get excited. He took on b5, castled, and calmly and coolly built up a good position. Then came this moment.
18...h6 was a huge error. I love how Fabi played from here. First he sacrificed his bishop with 19.Bxh6!, and after 19...gxh6 his queen came to h6. Then the other bishop came from h3 to f5, and the rook went to c7.
Pragg defended with 22...Qe8, Fabi brought in his knight with 23.Ne5, and after 23...Bd8 24.Rd7 Bc6 we reach this position.
25.Rxd8! A sacrifice on d8. After 25...Qxd8, he sacrificed once more, on e6.
An amazing win by Fabi against Pragg, in just 26 moves.
Pragg would have been looking for revenge in the second game. With White he got a fine position. But then Fabi once again started to take over, slowly, move by move, and just outplayed Pragg.
Pragg resigned on move 48. Two wins for Fabi, six points in a day.
With these two losses Pragg is in big trouble in his group. Especially because Fabi is simply crushing it: three wins and a draw from four games, and a two-point lead over Le Quang Liem.
Bibisara stuns Arjun
Arjun Erigaisi lost a shocking game to Bibisara Assaubayeva in the King's Indian. And she played so well. She found one good move after another and Arjun got completely outplayed.
Arjun's mistake was 24.Qa5. Instead he had to play 24.Qb7. His idea was that after Qa5 if Bibisara took on a7, he would be able to go Rd8. But Bibisara replied 24...Qe6!
Arjun did play 25.Rd8+, but after 25...Rxd8 26.Qxd8+ Kf7 Black was much better. Bibisara played one accurate move after another, and her pawns marched down the board.
After the game Bibisara revealed that when she had lost eight games in a row in the blitz, Arjun Erigaisi had sent her encouraging messages to cheer her up! And now in the Fast Classic she has two draws against Wesley So and a win over Arjun. Insane.
Arjun came back in game two, as he himself played the King's Indian and outwitted Bibisara. The Kazakh no.1 played a great game, but faltered at one point.
33.Kxg2 allowed 33...Rb8! The rook goes after the pawn on b2, and from here Arjun simply converted with ease. He won in 48 moves.
With this win Arjun is on 5 points, three behind Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hans Niemann, with three days of the group stage to go. He still has a chance to finish on top of his group.
Vaishali fights, Niemann wins twice
R. Vaishali continued her excellent play and gave Hans Niemann an excellent fight in both games, with White and with Black. In fact in the first game she got a big advantage out of the opening.
Vaishali's best move here was Qg7 and she would have had a huge edge. But she wasn't able to follow up well. She was soon short of time, with three minutes on move 24 and 36 seconds on move 28, and Hans took over. She lost in 43 moves.
In the second game as well she fought really well, and the position was level for a long time. With seconds on her clock she went wrong on move 48, Hans got his a-pawn rolling, and in the end she had to throw in the towel.
Abhimanyu almost beats Magnus
Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by Abhimanyu Mishra in both games. In the second one the youngster was totally winning after the GOAT blundered with 26...Kd7.
Abhimanyu found 27.Nh5!
Magnus lost not one pawn but two of them. His only chance to hold the draw was the opposite-coloured bishops. But Abhimanyu correctly assessed that he was winning. His final mistake came here.
Three moves later Magnus took the pawn on g4, and the position was a dead draw.
Before the game Abhimanyu said he would try to create history by beating Magnus. He almost did.
Magnus has now drawn all four of his Fast Classic games and is fifth in Group C with 4 points.
The four groups after day two
A win is 3 points, a draw is 1. If two players are level, the one who finished higher in the Blitz Swiss is ahead. Every group winner goes to Knockout 1, every runner-up to Knockout 2, and so on.
Group A
Rank | Player | Win | Draw | Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
2 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
3 | Levon Aronian | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
4 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
5 | Jorden van Foreest | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
6 | Andrew Hong | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Firouzja beat van Foreest and drew the second game. Duda and Abdusattorov both won with the black pieces against each other. Aronian and Hong drew twice.
Group B
Rank | Player | Win | Draw | Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fabiano Caruana | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
2 | Le Quang Liem | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
3 | Richard Rapport | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
4 | Vincent Keymer | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
5 | Vladislav Artemiev | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
6 | R. Praggnanandhaa | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Le Quang Liem beat Keymer and drew the second. Rapport and Artemiev drew twice.
Group C
Rank | Player | Win | Draw | Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
2 | Haik Martirosyan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
3 | Anish Giri | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
4 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
5 | Magnus Carlsen | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
6 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Giri beat Martirosyan in just 26 moves, and Martirosyan won the return game. Nepomniachtchi and Mamedyarov drew twice. Martirosyan has now played four games, won two and lost two, and not drawn a single one!
Group D
Rank | Player | Win | Draw | Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
2 | Hans Niemann | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
3 | Arjun Erigaisi | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
4 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
5 | Wesley So | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
6 | R. Vaishali | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
MVL beat Wesley So and drew the second game.
Pairings for the 13th of November
The players listed first have White in game one. The colours are reversed in game two.
Group | Game one (7.30 p.m. IST), White vs Black |
|---|---|
A | Jorden van Foreest vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov |
A | Andrew Hong vs Alireza Firouzja |
A | Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs Levon Aronian |
B | Richard Rapport vs Le Quang Liem |
B | R. Praggnanandhaa vs Vladislav Artemiev |
B | Vincent Keymer vs Fabiano Caruana |
C | Haik Martirosyan vs Magnus Carlsen |
C | Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Anish Giri |
C | Abhimanyu Mishra vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
D | Hans Niemann vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
D | Bibisara Assaubayeva vs R. Vaishali |
D | Wesley So vs Arjun Erigaisi |
Niemann against MVL is a clash of the two leaders of Group D. Arjun plays Wesley So, Vaishali meets Bibisara, and Pragg needs wins against Artemiev.
The first game begins at 7.30 p.m. IST and the second at 11 p.m. IST. You can follow the games live on chessbase.in/live, with commentary on the ChessBase India YouTube channel.
