FIDE Grand Prix Tournament 1, Round 6 and Playoffs

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, Keymer 1½

Group D: So had a good position for a while against Harikrishna, but couldn't quite thread his way through to a win. The draw meant that Dominguez could catch So by beating Shirov, and this he did.

Final scores: So and Shirov 4, Harikrishna 2½, Shirov 1½

This meant that there were two play-offs that needed to take place, in groups B and D. These were won by Rapport and Dominguez respectively, both by 1½-½ margins. The semi-final pairings were thus Nakamura - Rapport and Aronian - Dominguez.

World Championship 2022 Index

 


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