Chess Go Spinny

 The two semi-finals went in similar ways. Aronian and Nakamura, having been given white in the first game, both took full advantage of it to win, and then followed this up with a draw with black to reach the final. This led to an Aronian-Nakamura final. Both normal time games were exciting affairs ending in draws by repetition, which led to rapidplay playoffs. The prevailing opinion was that Nakamura, as a renowned rapidplay specialist, would have the advantage there, and so it proved, with his winning the play-off 2-0. This makes for an excellent start for Nakamura in his quest to qualify for only his second candidates. With the first of three tournaments down, the Grand Prix scores are as follows (players not expected to play another game are in italics): Nakamura 13 Aronian 10 Rapport and Dominguez 7 So, Wojtaszek and Esipenko 4 Vidit and Dubov 3 Grischuk, Harikrishna and Fedoseev 2 Oparin, Bacrot, Keymer and Shirov 0 World Championship 2022 Index  

It was decision day for the groups, and they resolved as follows: Group A: Esipenko had a winning position for quite some time against Nakamura, but couldn't find the right way to convert it, and a draw meant it was the American who advanced. In the group's dead-rubber game, Grischuk beat bottom seed Bacrot, although the latter had missed a spectacular win early on. Final scores: Nakamura 4, Esipenko 3½, Grischuk 3, Bacrot 1½ Group B: An unusual opening from Oparin looked to have him in trouble against Wojtaszek, but he defended tenaciously to hold the draw. This allowed Rapport to leap into joint first place by grinding down Fedoseev in an ending. Final scores: Rapport and Wojtaszek 3½, Fedoseev 3, Oparin 2 Group C: This had already been settled the day before, and Aronian and Dubov took the opportunity to have an afternoon off with an early draw. Vidit and Keymer played for considerably longer, but their game too was a draw.  Final scores: Aronian 4½, Dubov and Vidit 3, Key...

 We're reaching the business end of the tournament now, and it's starting to become clear who will and will not qualify for the knockout stage: Group A: Nakamura won a fine attacking game against Grischuk to end the latter's chances of qualification, while Esipenko outplayed Bacrot in a fine positional game. With Nakamura and Esipenko playing in the final round, this ensured one of the two will qualify outright. Scores after round 5: Nakamura 3½, Esipenko 3, Grischuk 2, Bacrot 1½ Group B: Oparin needed to beat Rapport to maintain any chance of qualifying, but, despite having a better position for a long time, could only draw. The other game, between Fedoseev and Wojtaszek, was also a draw, maintaining their lead at the top of the group. Scores after round 5: Fedoseev and Wojtaszek 3, Rapport 2½, Oparin 1½ Group C: Aronian won a tactical melee against Keymer, which proved to be enough to win the group with a round to spare when Dubov-Vidit ended in a draw. Scores after round...

 The last round before the rest day left all the groups in the balance, with every competitor still having a technical chance of reaching the knockout stage. Group A: Grischuk had the better of it for most of his game against Esipenko, but could not get more than a draw out of it. In the other game, Bacrot repeated the line from his round 3 game, and was more successful this time, reaching a draw by repetition against Nakamura. Scores so far: Nakamura 2½, Grischuk and Esipenko 2, Bacrot 1½ Group B: Rapport-Wojtaszek was a solid game by both sides where black successfully neutralized white's pressure to force a draw. This allowed Fedoseev to join Wojtaszek in the lead by beating Oparin. Scores so far: Wojtaszek and Fedoseev 2½, Rapport 2, Oparin 1 Group C: Keymer went for an ambitious line of a "poisoned pawn" nature against Dubov, but it backfired on him and he lost quickly. Meanwhile, Aronian hung on to a full-point lead with a solid draw against Vidit.   Scores so far:...

 We've approached the half-way stage of the group stage, and there's still all to play for. Group A: A symmetrical position proved to have more life in it than apparent at first glance in Grischuk-Nakamura, but the complications eventually fizzled out to a draw. In the other game, Esipenko won a nice attacking game against Bacrot. Scores after round 3: Nakamura 2, Grischuk and Esipenko 1½, Bacrot 1. Group B: Wojtaszek maintained his lead at the top of the group with a draw against Fedoseev that he may have been disappointed not to win. In the other game, Oparin-Rapport had all three results possible for a long time, but eventually it reached a draw too. Scores after round 3: Wojtaszek 2, Rapport and Fedoseev 1½, Oparin 1. Group C: Aronian won a very smooth positional victory against Keymer, while Vidit exploited an inaccuracy by Dubov to get his first win of the tournament. Scores after round 3: Aronian 2½, Vidit 1½, Dubov and Keymer 1. Group D: Shirov's gambit play agai...

 The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament continues, and just like in round 1, there were three decisive games and five draws. Group A: Grischuk managed to fray the nerves of his fans by reaching a bad position and getting very short of time against Bacrot, but he managed to pull it back and earn a draw. In the other game in the group, Nakamura won with a nice combination against Esipenko. Group B: Rapport managed to recover from his shock defeat in round 1 with an interesting win against Fedoseev. Wojtaszek maintained his lead with a draw against Oparin which he might have been disappointed not to win. Group C: Keymer and Vidit rattled out a lot of moves very quickly to end up in an opposite-coloured bishops ending that petered out to a draw. In the other game, Aronian equalized quickly with black against Dubov, and that game was also a draw. Group D: Dominguez won a double-edged game against Shirov, the first black win of the tournament. In the other game, Harikrishna found a good li...

One of the things reasonably well established in sporting nomenclature is what a world cup format is, and it involves all-play-all group stages followed by a knockout. FIDE, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that its world championship qualifying cycle should include an event with a world cup format, but that this should not be the event called the World Cup. Instead it is the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix is, in fact, a series of three events, each of 16 players, with the two players who do best over the two events that they play going through to the Candidates. Four groups of four play a double-round all-play-all, with the winner of each group going forward to a knockout stage. The qualifiers for this event were those two didn't quite make it in the previous two events - the players who reached the quarters but not the final in the World Cup, and the players who finished 3rd to 8th in the Grand Prix; they between them accounted for 11 of the 24 places. Of the other thirteen places...