Defeat in the last round of the day for top seed Magnus Carlsen and overnight leader Anish Giri left them a touch worried about their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals of the FTX Crypto Cup online rapid chess tournament on Monday.
The sensational 10th round also saw the victorious duo of Teimour Radjabov and Fabiano Caruana join Hikaru Nakamura in the lead at 6.5 points. With nine players placed within one point, the race for the quarterfinals promises to be very thrilling when five rounds come up on the final day of the league on Tuesday.
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Carlsen, looking well on course to make amends for his below-par performance on the first day, lost to a struggling Levon Aronian in the 10th round. Giri, looking to recover from the ninth-round loss to Peter Svidler, faced a similar fate after running into Caruana.
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Radjabov, unbeaten like Nakamura, accounted for Alan Pichot, the lowest rated player in the fray, to end the day as the leader. Nakamura, leader with Giri after nine rounds, drew with Daniil Dubov to stay ahead.
Wesley So, winner of two events this season on the Tour and unbeaten so far in this competition, played out his eighth successive draw to end the second day tied fourth with Giri.
Carlsen, Svidler, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren are sharing the sixth spot. They will have to work harder on Wednesday to stay in the top-eight bracket.
The results:
10th round: Teimour Radjabov (Aze) bt Alan Pichot (Arg); Fabiano Caruana (USA) bt Anish Giri (Ned); Hikaru Nakamura (USA) drew with Daniil Dubov (Rus); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) drew with Wesley So (USA); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) bt Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Levon Aronian (Arm) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Peter Svidler (Rus) drew with Ding Liren (Chn); Alireza Firouzja (FIDE) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus).
Ninth round: Vachier drew with Radjabov; Pichot lost to Caruana; Grischuk drew with Nakamura; Dubov lost to Carlsen; Giri lost to Svidler; Ding drew with Firouzja; Nepomniachtchi bt Aronian; So drew with Mamedyarov.
Eighth round: Radjabov drew with So; Caruana drew with Vachier; Nakamura drew with Ding; Fizouzja lost to Giri; Carlsen bt Grischuk; Aronian drew with Dubov; Mamedyarov drew with Nepomniachtchi; Svidler bt Pichot.
Seventh round: Nepomniachtchi lost to Radjabov; So drew with Caruana; Giri drew with Nakamura; Vachier drew with Svidler; Ding drew with Carlsen; Mamedyarov bt Aronian; Grischuk drew with Dubov; Pichot bt Firouzja.
Sixth round: Radjabov drew with Mamedyarov; Caruana bt Nepomniachtchi; Nakamura bt Pichot; Carlsen drew with Giri; Firouzja drew with Vachier; Svidler drew with So; Aronian bt Grischuk; Dubov drew with Ding.
Standings (after 10 rounds): 1-3. Caruana, Radjabov, Nakamura (6.5 each), 4-5. Giri, So (6 each), 6-9. Svidler, Carlsen, Vachier, Ding (5.5 each), 10. Mamedyarov (5), 11-12. Nepomniachtchi, Aronian (4.5 each), 13-14. Firouzja, Dubov (4 each), 15. Grischuk (3), 16. Pichot (1.5).
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