The second day of the Skilling Open quarterfinals was a day of comebacks. Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, and Teirmour Radjabov started the day with a significant advantage after winning their first quarterfinal matches and needed just a draw to advance.
However, only the World Champion was up to the task drawing his match with Anish Giri, whereas Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Wesley So bounced back by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian, and Radjabov respectively and leveled the score.
In tiebreaks, Nakamura was stretched thin as he lost the first game and was an exchange down in the second. To his credit, Hikaru did not give up, consolidated his position, and using the opponent’s inaccuracies tilted the balance in his favor. In Armageddon, the American chose to play with Black and reached so much needed draw.
After So and Radjabov drew two blitz games it came down to Armageddon as well. Wesley opted for Black and easily sealed a draw in a won position after Teimour made a terrible mistake on move 22 that cost him a rook.
Nepomiachtichi was simply unstoppable in the tiebreak blitz games – the Russian GM handily won both encounters and punched his ticket to the semifinals.
The action resumes today with the first day of the semifinals.
Skilling Open official website: https://championschesstour.com/