Levon Aronian secured his seat in the semifinals, defeating Keymer today. The now-American ace climbs to a stunning 4.0/5, and nobody in his group will be able to catch him. Nakamura defeated Grishuck to reach the fantastic score of 3.5/5. Only Esipenko can still catch the American, Esipenko today won with Bacrot, going 3.0/5. A curious note: Today Grischuk and Nakamura played a King's Indian semi-Averbakh. Yesterday, Yuri Averbakh celebrated his centennial! Was it a coincidence? Probably yes, yet it is quite nice that the two top players used a variation that was named after the oldest living GM. GM Yuri Averbakh - Photo from FIDE Facebook page  

 Pool A 1 2 3 4 PTS Grischuk aa 1/2-0 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 2.0 Nakamura 1/2-1 aa 1 1/2-1/2 3.5 Esipenko 1/2-1/2 0 aa 1-1 3.0 Bacrot 1/2-1/2 1/2 0-0 aa 1.5

As previously said, Pool A seems to be Nakamura's realm, but with today's win, Esipenko follows the American player by only half a point. Tomorrow, in the last round of the pools, the semifinalist will be probably decided.

 

 

 Pool B 1 2 3 4 PTS Wojtaszek aa 1/2-1/2 1-1/2 1/2 3.0 Fedoseev 1/2-1/2 aa 0 1-1 3.0 Rapport 0-1/2 1 aa 1/2-1/2 2.5 Oparin 1/2 0-0 1/2-1/2 aa 1.5

In Pool B, we had two draws. the situation remains uncertain, with only Oparin out of the game. Wojtaszek and Fedoseev are favorites, but with a win over Fedoseev tomorrow, Richard Rapport could get back in contention.

 Pool C 1 2 3 4 PTS Aronian aa 1/2 1-1 1-1/2 4.0 Dubov 1/2 aa 1/2-1 0-1/2 2.5 Keymer 0-0 1/2-0 aa 1/2 1.0 Gujrathi 0-1/2 1-1/2 1/2 aa 2.5

In Pool C "le jeux sont fait". Levon Aronian is the first of the four semifinalists. Congratulations!  

 

 Pool D 1 2 3 4 PTS So aa 1/2-1 1/2 1-1/2 3.5 Dominguez 1/2-0 aa 1/2-1 1 3.0 Harikrishna 1/2 1/2-0 aa 1/2-1/2 2.0 Shirov 0-1/2 0 1/2-1/2 aa 1.5

In Pool D, Dominguez won an important game today, defeating Harikrishna. Wesley So was held to a draw by the old lion Alexei Shirov. Now So leads by half a point over Dominguez, the only one who could catch him.

 

Tomorrow the last and decisive round (for three pools out of four), starts at 9 AM EST - 15:00 Berlin (CET) - 14:00 UTC