It's Nakamura vs. Aronian! After winning their game with white yesterday, today Hikaru and Levon drew with black, to go on to the final stage of the 1st FIDE Grand Prix 2022.  

 Semifinals Game 1 Game 2 TB Levon Aronian 1 1/2   Leinier Dominguez 0 1/2    Semifinals Game 1 Game 2 TB Hikaru Nakamura 1 1/2   Richard Rapport 0 1/2  

GM Levon Aronian (2785 Live Rating) - Photo by FIDE

Aronian went for a Two Knights Defense, and the game faded away quickly, with a rapid exchange of all the pieces but a rook each. Dominguez could not do anything but accept his fate and call it a day at move 31.

 

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2749 Live Rating) - Photo by FIDE

Rapport decided to get into a complicated position by playing a quite unusual opening, the Réti, King's Indian Attack (Barcza System). Richard said he had played this system in the Bundesliga, a couple of years ago, and with success. But his opponent back then wasn't Nakamura, and the American succeeded in equalizing the position pretty soon. After 30 moves, all the engines gave the typical 0.00 evaluation, and the two GMs decided to agree on a draw.

 

Tomorrow, Monday, February the 14th is a rest day, because there won't be any tiebreaks. Play resumes Tuesday, February the 15th, at 9 AM EST - 15:00 Berlin (CET) - 14:00 UTC, with the first game of the final.