Firouzja Recovers After 9-Move Loss, Joins Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Duda In Winners

GM Alireza Firouzja may have suffered a "once-in-a-lifetime" nine-move loss against GM Fabiano Caruana, but he still won his Division I Winners Quarterfinal match in the CrunchLabs Masters 2024. He'll play GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the Winners Semifinals, while GM Magnus Carlsen will face GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Division II has funneled down to eight players in the Winners Quarterfinals. We take a look at GM Levon Aronian's match-winning game, completed with three brilliant moves in a row, against GM Vasif Durarbayli.

GM Arjun Erigaisi is a man on a mission in Division III, where he joins seven other players in the Winners Quarterfinals. After performing below his standard on the first two days, he scored five points in six games on Friday.

Division play continues on Saturday, July 20, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m.

Division I Bracket

• Division I Winners Quarterfinals: Carlsen Sweeps Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja Sets Record Straight
• Division II: Aronian Moves Through With A Blazing Finish
• Division III: Arjun Erigaisi Is Back With A Vengeance

The rest of the tournament will be the Division phase, which will feature a double-elimination bracket in all three divisions. Eight players participated in Division I, 16 in Division II, and 32 in Division III. We saw four-game matches with a 10+2 time control in the top division and two-game matches in Divisions II and III.

Division I Winners Quarterfinals: Carlsen Sweeps Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja Sets Record Straight

There were just two draws across all four matches in the first division. Carlsen showed unmatched form in his 3-0 sweep against the former world championship challenger, and we saw one armageddon in Firouzja vs. Caruana.

Carlsen 3-0 Nepomniachtchi

Carlsen won with the most dominant score of the day. "It was all about game one in this match," said GM Robert Hess, while GM David Howell added it was "just decided in one move essentially. Ian Nepomniachtchi slipped in the rook endgame and never got his chance in the rest of the match."

Nepomniachtchi actually reached a winning rook endgame, but one passive decision put him under pressure and led him to blunder in one move.

Nepomniachtchi fought for the win in the other games, but Carlsen won even more convincingly with each successive attempt, to clinch the match with a game to spare.

Firouzja 3-2 Caruana

Every game was decisive. Despite an embarrassing loss in game two, Firouza said, "I was very upset, but then I saw Fabiano was laughing on the camera a lot, so I thought I have to pay this back somehow. I got a lot of motivation from his laughs."

Even in speed chess, we almost never see games between the world top 10 end in under 10 moves. In game two, Firouzja fell into a beautiful opening trap and resigned on move nine. 

It's worth watching the clip to see the commentators' shocked reactions, Firouzja's grimace, and Caruana's grin. Comically, Hess pointed out the "hypothetical" variation minutes before it appeared on the board. Howell called it "once-in-a-lifetime stuff," while GM Anish Giri tweeted "I spent my entire childhood hoping to get to play this trap in a real game once. Never happened."

I spent my entire childhood hoping to get to play this trap in a real game once. Never happened.

—Anish Giri

It's not that he'd never seen the tactic, said Firouzja; he just had a momentary lapse at the worst possible moment: "Of course I knew this tactic, but suddenly in the game I thought, what happens if I just take the rook and completely forgot about this tactic."

Firouzja bounced back in the next game, but then Caruana won on demand to force armageddon. The French number-one won the match with a nice tactic, which you can try to find in the puzzle below.

Firouzja will play Duda next and he pointed out that while their classical score leans in his favor, the Polish talent is a formidable challenge in rapid chess. "He played very good against me last time," said Firouzja, "so I expect him to play the same or even better."

He played very good against me last time, so I expect him to play the same or even better.

—Alireza Firouzja on Jan-Krzysztof Duda

As for the upcoming Olympics held in Paris, Firouzja will miss it as he's flying to St. Louis for the last Grand Chess Tour events. Still, he supports his national team, while conceding, "America is too good [in basketball], I think, if we make the silver medal it's good."

Duda 2.5-1.5 So

Duda was the better player on Friday, and Black won all three decisive games in the match. After a draw against GM Wesley So, Duda won games two and four to advance.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the first win, our Game of the Day, below, which was a display of exquisite endgame technique, especially when accounting for the short time control.

Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5 Andreikin

This was a close match that nearly made it to the armageddon. In the final game, however, GM Dmitry Andreikin lost a complicated but objectively equal knight endgame.

We dial it back to game three, where Vachier-Lagrave competently handled the initiative. His conversion with queen vs. two minor pieces and a rook was flawless.

In the Losers Bracket, we will see Nepomniachtchi vs. Andreikin and the all-American Caruana vs. So. Two players will be eliminated.

Division II: Aronian Moves Through With A Blazing Finish

Game Review awarded Aronian three brilliant moves in his final game against Durarbayli. First it was a bishop sacrifice, then a rook sacrifice (temporarily) for two moves.  

Aronian will next face GM Jules Moussard, who, just to remind you, was the player responsible for GM Hikaru Nakamura being in Division II. And speaking of Nakamura, he's still alive and well in the Winners Bracket, with a tough match ahead vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev.

You can check out Nakamura's recap of the day, where he reviews Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja vs. Caruana, and GM Vladimir Kramnik vs. GM Frederik Svane.

The former world champion is now in the Losers Bracket, where he will play GM Mikhail Antipov (again). Kramnik has raised several complaints on X (formerly Twitter) since the tournament's first day. Some of these complaints include that he forfeited his game after he lost electricity, Antipov wore a watch during their Division I Placement match, that his screen froze and he was kicked off the platform, and about his game against Svane, he said in a video, "For the tiebreak, I had no chance. He played fast, all best moves."

Some top players have disagreed with his perspective. Caruana defended Antipov, writing, "Vladimir, zero chance of anything unusual going on. I've played hundreds of games with Mikhail, he often plays extremely well. Level can vary between games, it's just normal." GM Cristian Chirila, Antipov's coach, also wrote in a four-part thread: "Vladimir - you lost the plot. You should apologize for this unnecessary mistreatment."

🧵 1/4 Mikhail is a ridiculously capable player, and a very active competitor. Among his accomplishments: he is a former World Junior Champion, 2024 Chicago Open winner, multiple times winner of US Masters, and this year’s collegiate Pan American and Final Four champion

— Cristian Chirila (@CristianChirila) July 19, 2024

In his video recap, Nakamura defended Svane, saying, "There is really simply no place for this in modern-day chess. It's very clear that these players are not cheating, these are strong grandmasters who are simply trying to make a living playing the game. And I will add, additionally, I find it extremely disappointing that top players are not speaking up on this issue."

Division II Bracket

Division III: Arjun Erigaisi Is Back With A Vengeance

As Arjun ascended to world number-four at breakneck speed, expectations have risen. He was close to reaching Division I Placement on day one, but then lost his last two games in the Swiss. Then, on the next day, he was swept 2-0 by fellow Indian GM Abhimanyu Puranik. But things look brighter for him after day three.

He defeated both IM Read Samadov and GM Benjamin Bok with a 2.5-0.5 score in each match. In his last game, he hit Bok with a "petite combinaison," and Bok resigned after White's next move. Can you find it?

Division III Bracket

The 2024 CrunchLabs Masters is the third of the Champions Chess Tour's four events and determines one of the players who'll make it to the in-person CCT Finals. The event starts on July 17 at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST and features a $300,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• • Caruana, Wesley So, Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Andreikin Advance To Division I
  • Nepomniachtchi Wins Play-in On Tiebreaks Over Nakamura, Antipov
  • Announcing The 2024 CrunchLabs Masters, Champions Chess Tour's Third Even