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For Arjun Erigaisi, things started well in his semifinal match against Le Quang Liem, as he safely held a draw with black and then won his first game with the white pieces. A draw in game 3 meant Arjun only needed a draw with white to reach the final. But Le is known for his prowess in rapid chess, and managed to score in a must-win situation with the black pieces.
In the ensuing blitz tiebreakers, Arjun won both games to advance to the 2-day final match against Magnus Carlsen. Arjun is in a run of good form and might realistically upset the world champion — he finished clear second in the preliminaries.
In the final round of the prelims, Carlsen had defeated Vincent Keymer with the white pieces, but only after surviving a clearly worse position and turning the tables in the endgame. In their semifinal match, Keymer continued to impress his famed opponent. The German star collected draws in the first two, hard-fought games.
But facing Carlsen in a 4-game match is incredibly difficult. The world champion upped the pressure in game 3, when he got a remarkable win after converting a minor-piece endgame a pawn to the good. GM Karsten Müller analysed the instructive ending.
Carlsen also won the fourth game, when, like Le, Keymer was forced to score to keep the match going. It was a 41-move battle which featured plenty of imbalances.
Master Class Vol.8 - Magnus Carlsen 2nd Edition
Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.
