FIDE World Cup, Last 16

We're getting to the business end of the tournament now, and with a place in the Grand Prix resting on getting through this round, everybody was keen to avoid defeat. So much so, in fact, that only four of the sixteen standardplay games had decisive results, and two of them (in the Martorisyan-Tabatabaei match) were from opposite players in the same match. Thus only Sam Shankland and Vidit Gujrathi went through without needing the stress of rapid playoffs. 

Magnus Carlsen's dream of winning a first World Cup is still alive, after he won a match against Esipenko that went all the way to blitz. He is, however, the only member of the original top eight seeds still in the tournament, as Vachier-Lagrave and Grischuk were eliminated by Karjakin and Duda respectively. Rounding out the final eight are Fedoseev, Bacrot and Tabatabaei (the latter being the lowest-ranked player still in the tournament). 

 




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