2nd FIDE Grand Prix 2022 - Semifinals - Day 2

GM Anish Giri - Photo credit: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Giri and Andreikin played an uneventful draw, closing the game in 32 moves.
Everything will have to be decided tomorrow, in the tiebreaks.
The Russian and the Dutch grandmasters will play two Rapid games (15+10).
If still tied, two Blitz games (5+3).
If still tied, the Armageddon game: white starts with 5 minutes on the clock and Black with 4 (no increment).
Black gets draw odds.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Photo credit: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

The other semifinals game was a rollercoaster. Rapport chose an unusual move in the opening:



h5 is considered a blunder, at least according to the engines. For a while, MVL was able to keep the advantage, but then it faded away, and the game seemed to slip away more or less drawish. But when the players entered an endgame with rooks+knight and four pawns each, the engines were screaming +3! From a human point of view, it was hard to see the advantage, though. With a couple of imprecise moves, MVL allowed Rapport to equalize, and the advantage disappeared again. In the end, a perpetual check gave Rapport the seat in the final, waiting for the winner between Andreikin and Giri.

Tomorrow, March the 11th, at 9 AM EST, 15:00 Belgrade (CET), 14:00 UTC, the tiebreaks to decide who faces Richard Rapport in the final.