After six rounds, we have the four musketeers who will battle in the semifinals! In pool A, Shankland and Grishuck drew relatively quickly. Bacrot was clearly winning his game vs. Andreikin, which would have given him the pass for the semis. But something went wrong for the Frenchman, and the game went upsidedown for him. Andreikin won, and he's the first of the semifinalists.

 

 Pool A 1 2 3 4 PTS Grischuk aa 0-1/2 0-1/2 1/2-1/2 2.0 Shankland 1-1/2 aa 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 3.5 Andreikin 1-1/2 1/2-1/2 aa 1/2-1 4.0 Bacrot 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 1/2-0 aa 2.5

In Pool B, Giri-Vitiugov ended in a draw, allowing Anish to qualify for the semis. The young Tabatabaei defeated Harikrishna to finish second jointly with Vitiugov.

 

 Pool B 1 2 3 4 PTS Giri aa 1/2-1/2 1-1/2 1-1/2 4.0 Harikrishna 1/2-1/2 aa 0-1/2 1/2-0 2.0 Vitiugov 0-1/2 1-1/2 aa 1/2-1/2 3.0 Tabatabaei 0-1/2 1/2-1 1/2-1/2 aa 3.0

In Pool C we had two draws, which make Rapport the third semifinalist.

 Pool C 1 2 3 4 PTS Rapport aa 1/2-1/2 1-1 1/2-1/2 4.0 Fedoseev 1/2-1/2 aa 0-1/2 1-0 2.5 Vidit 0-0 1-1/2 aa 1-1/2 3.0 Shirov 1/2-1/2 0-1 0-1/2 aa 2.5

In Pool D, MVL and Mamedyarov drew. That put Yu Yangyi in a must-win situation to reach the tiebreaks with the French numero uno. But it wasn't to be, as Predke played a fantastic game, defeating the Chinese ace. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is the fourth semifinalist.

 

 Pool D 1 2 3 4 PTS Mamedyarov aa 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 3.0 Yu Yangyi 1/2-1/2 aa 1/2-1/2 1/2-0 2.5 Vachier-Lagrave 1/2-1/2 1/2-1/2 aa 1/2-1 3.5 Predke 1/2-1/2 1/2-1 1/2-0 aa 3.0

Tomorrow the four semifinalists have a "free" day, as there won't be tiebreaks. Play resumes Wednesday, March 9, at 9 AM EST - 15:00 Belgrade - 14:00 UTC.