Grenke Classic: Carlsen and Rapport to fight for first place

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
4/1/2024 – Magnus Carlsen was the top scorer in the 10-round all-play-all section of the Grenke Chess Classic. Carlsen is set to face second-placed Richard Rapport in Monday’s 2-game final match. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will face Vincent Keymer in the match for third place, while Ding Liren will play against Daniel Fridman in the match for fifth place. | Photo: Angelika Valkova
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Carlsen beats Keymer, Keymer beats Ding

Magnus Carlsen secured a spot in the final match of the Grenke Chess Classic by beating Vincent Keymer in the penultimate round of the all-play-all section. Carlsen drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the next game to end the stage in sole first place with 7/10 points.

Clear second place went to Richard Rapport, who drew both his games on Sunday. Thus, Rapport gained the right to face Carlsen in Monday’s match for tournament victory.

The match will consist of two ‘fast-classical’ games (45 minutes for the game with 10-second increments), which will be followed by blitz encounters in case of a tie — first with a 10+2 time control and then with a 5+2 time control. If the tie remains, an Armageddon encounter will decide the outcome of the match.

Similar matches will decide who gets third and fifth places, with Vachier-Lagrave facing Keymer for third, and Ding Liren facing Daniel Fridman for fifth.

In the final standings of the round-robin, Carlsen (7 points), Rapport (6) and Vachier-Lagrave (5) finished in clear first, second and third places, respectively. However, a tie for fourth place between Ding, Keymer and Fridman (all with 4 points) meant a blitz double round-robin between the three would decide MVL’s rival in the match for third place.

Keymer, who only qualified to the tiebreaker after beating Ding in round 10, outscored his colleagues to become MVL’s opponent in Monday’s final confrontation.

Final standings

Carlsen 1 - 0 Keymer

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer | Photo: Angelika Valkova

Keymer 1 - 0 Ding

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Ding Liren

Ding Liren | Photo: Angelika Valkova

All games

All games - Tiebreaks

Links

Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.