Goldmoney Asian Rapid quarterfinals: Magnus Carlsen overpowers fighting Wesley So

Magnus Carlsen survived a brilliant comeback by Wesley So, who won the third and fourth games to clinch the second set 2.5-1.5 and force the blitz tiebreaker.

FILE PHOTO: Magnus Carlsen of Norway at a tournament in Kolkata on November 26, 2019.

Arjun Erigaisi’s gallant show against Levon Aronian ended in the blitz tiebreaker where Levon Aronian prevailed 1.5-0.5 to set up a clash with Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid Online Chess Tournament on Wednesday.

After enjoying several promising positions in four drawn rapid games, Arjun finally cracked in the first blitz game before Aronian easily gained the draw in the second to advance.

Carlsen survived a brilliant comeback by Wesley So, who won the third and fourth games to clinch the second set 2.5-1.5 and force the blitz tiebreaker. The Norwegian recovered from the double-blow to win the first game in style. In the second, too, Carlsen reached a winning position and then took a draw needed to go through.

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From the lower-half of the draw, Ding Liren bounced back from the loss of the first game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda to win the next three for a resounding 3-1 verdict.

In the fourth quarterfinal, Vladislav Artemiev won the first game in 21 moves to take his winning sequence to four games against Anish Giri. The Russian gave no chance of a comeback to Anish in the next two drawn games.