Back in Berlin for the third and last leg of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix. The three tournaments decide who will fill the last two free spots in the Candidates' tournament. GM John Burke penned for us a preview article. It's not super-easy to understand the chances of the top players, but John makes it simple in his article. check it out! The 3rd leg started with a bang today: four decisive games, a couple of which were extremely important. In Pool A, which sees two of the major contenders - Aronian and Nakamura, who placed second and first respectively in the 1st leg - Esipenko and Oparin drew, but Aronian won the first of the two direct encounters with Nakamura! The pools are double round-robin, hence six rounds; nothing is over, but a win against the most dangerous and formidable opponent is a big step ahead for Levon.

Photo: Pierre Adenis/World Chess

 Pool A 1 2 3 4 PTS Nakamura aa 0     0 Aronian 1 aa     1.0 Esipenko     aa 1/2 0.5 Oparin     1/2 aa 0.5  

In Pool B, Mamedyarov and Keymer drew. Dominguez played a great game and defeated Dubov.

 

 Pool B 1 2 3 4 PTS Mamedyarov aa     1/2 0.5 Dominguez   aa 1   1.0 Dubov   0 aa   0 Keymer 1/2     aa 0.5

In Pool C, Shankland and So drew, leaving the bare kings on the board. The biggest surprise of the day happened when Predke defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, one of the few players with chances to win one of the two coveted seats in the Candidates.

Photo: Pierre Adenis/World Chess

 Pool C 1 2 3 4 PTS So aa   1/2   0.5 Vachier-Lagrave   aa   0 0 Shankland 1/2   aa   0.5 Predke   1   aa 1.0

In Pool D, Giri and Yu Yangyi drew, and Vitiugov defeated the young Tabatabaei.  

 

 Pool D 1 2 3 4 PTS Giri aa   1/2   0.5 Vitiugov   aa   1 1.0 Yu Yangyi 1/2   aa   0.5 Tabatabaei   0   aa 0

Tomorrow Round 2 starts at 10 AM EDT, 15:00 Berlin (CET) - 14:00 UTC