GM Rodrigo Vasquez and IM Denis Lazavik have been the winners of the third and fourth Play-ins of the Chess.com World Championship.
The 2 first-finishing gamers superior to the knockout section the place they are going to be joined by GM Eric Hansen and GM Jeffery Xiong, who received their respective playoffs.
The following rounds of the Play-in section proceed on Monday 18, beginning at 5 a.m. PT/14:00 CEST and 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST. For titled gamers who want to take part and play towards legendary GMs akin to Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, you’ll want to get verified so you possibly can play within the subsequent occasion.
Play-in 1
Vasquez completed first on tiebreaks, scoring 7.5/9 and ending forward of GMs Grigory Oparin, Hansen, and Hrant Melkumyan. The Chilean GM clutched up a win within the remaining spherical to leap forward of his opponents after weathering the storm towards 20-year-old IM Bojan Maksimovic.
NM Jan Malek was one of many chief beneficiaries of an upset, forcing a draw with one of many favorites, GM David Paravyan, in spherical 4.
The event was filled with thrilling time scrambles, courtesy of the dearth of increment. One of the adrenaline-packed video games was the encounter between GM Hans Niemann and GM Hrant Melkumyan, which the Armenian received in a nailbiter.
Regardless of his efforts, Melkumyan was the unfortunate participant to not progress to the playoff for the second qualifier spot, leaving Oparin and Hansen to duel for the distinction. The primary of their two-game playoff was a messy affair, nevertheless it was the Canadian streamer who got here out on prime, then was ready to attract the second sport to safe his spot within the knockout.
Within the post-playoff interview, Hansen divulged that he had solely slept for 2 hours and that he “felt like a zombie.” To have the ability to play on the stage he did to qualify on “pure adrenaline” confirmed the standard of Friday’s qualifiers.
Play-in #1 Swiss | Ultimate Standings (Prime 10)
| Quantity | # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Title | Ranking | Rating | SB |
| 1 | 1 | 163 | GM | K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2674 | 7.5 | 43.25 | |
| 2 | 2 | 13 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2570 | 7.5 | 40.25 | |
| 3 | 3 | 12 | GM | erichansen | Eric Hansen | 2588 | 7.5 | 39.75 | |
| 4 | 4 | 17 | GM | Hrant_ChessMood | Hrant Melkumyan | 2577 | 7.5 | 37.75 | |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | GM | BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2614 | 7 | 38.25 | |
| 6 | 6 | 10 | GM | Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2565 | 7 | 37.5 | |
| 7 | 7 | 61 | NM | BeanScreen | Zachary Tanenbaum | 2451 | 7 | 34 | |
| 8 | 8 | 38 | Sattarov_Bobur | Bobur Sattarov | 2449 | 7 | 31.5 | ||
| 9 | 9 | 6 | GM | Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2609 | 7 | 29.75 | |
| 10 | 10 | 4 | GM | tptagain | David Anton Guijarro | 2587 | 6.5 | 32 |
*Notice a playoff happens between second and third place for qualification into the Knockout Section.
(full remaining standings right here.)
Play-in 2
Within the day’s second Play-in, first place was shared by Lazavik and GM Gadir Guseinov, with the Belarusian edging out the Azeri on tiebreak. The runner-up needed to clutch as much as attain the playoff, needing to win his final-round sport, this time towards the ever-consistent Melkumyan who was unfortunate to not qualify in both occasion.
Lazavik’s path to victory was clear and he received a key sport within the penultimate spherical towards the eventual second-place finisher. Lazavik was in a position to completely coordinate his handed e-pawn and queen to depart Guseinov with no alternative however to win his remaining sport to stay in competition.
The playoff was a masterclass from Xiong, who offered some wonderful understanding of a typical pawn construction within the Maroczy Bind, tying up Guseinov’s items earlier than delivering a remaining knockout blow to seal his place within the knockout section.
Play-in #2 Swiss | Ultimate Standings (Prime 10)
| Quantity | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Title | Ranking | Rating | SB |
| 1 | 3 | IM | DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2667 | 7.5 | 41 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | GGuseinov | Gadir Guseinov | 2652 | 7.5 | 41 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2745 | 7 | 38 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2570 | 7 | 34.25 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2624 | 7 | 33.25 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2617 | 7 | 32.75 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2603 | 7 | 32.75 | |
| 8 | 23 | NM | BeanScreen | Zachary Tanenbaum | 2451 | 7 | 32.5 | |
| 9 | 62 | FM | Ranindu2003 | Ranindu Liyanage | 2340 | 7 | 29 | |
| 10 | 30 | Sattarov_Bobur | Bobur Sattarov | 2449 | 7 | 26.5 |
*Notice a playoff happens between second and third place for qualification into the Knockout Section.
(full remaining standings right here.)
The Chess.com World Championship is a worldwide prize occasion cycle open to all Chess.com verified gamers. The occasion has a $1,000,000 prize fund and brings collectively gamers from all all over the world with chess legends like GMs Alexei Shirov, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Hou Yifan, and lots of extra. The Play-in section consists of 16 Swiss tournaments which can award the top-two gamers from every occasion with a share of the $60,000 prize fund and a spot within the CGC Knockouts.
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