Freestyle Chess Paris Quarter-finals: Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura through to semis; Keymer-Nepo headed for tiebreak

Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura advanced to the semifinals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris. Vincent Keymer vs Ian Nepomniachtchi are headed to tiebreak. Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa and Rapport won the 9th-12th place playoffs against Vidit and Gukesh, respectively.

The quarterfinals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris have already produced high drama, with three of the four semifinal spots confirmed. Fabiano Caruana, who barely made it past the round-robin stage, showed composure under pressure to edge past local boy Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1.5-0.5 and become the first semifinalist.

Five-time world champion and the reigning world no.1, Magnus Carlsen, made light work of Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov, securing a 1.5-0.5 win to storm into the semis.
Carlsen had won the first game against Nodirbek on Wednesday while playing with white pieces. He drew the second game with black.

American grandmaster
Hikaru Nakamura displayed dominance to defeat India’s Arjun Erigaisi with the same 1.5-0.5 scoreline and clinch the third semifinal spot. Nakamura drew his first quarterfinal game against Erigaisi while playing with black and managed to secure a win in the second match with white.

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