Aronian and Nakamura are the first FIDE Grand Prix semifinalists

Round 6 of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 ended with Nakamura and Aronian being the semifinalists of Group A and C. Tomorrow, Wojtaszek-Rapport and Dominguez-So games will determine the Group B and D semifinalists respectively.

Round 6 started with the CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Richard Lutz making the first move for Vidit Gujrathi in his game against German star Vincent Keymer. The Indian GM chose the English Opening for his last game, which ended in a draw. This result was indifferent to the overall Group C results, since Aronian had already secured his spot in the semifinals from Round 5.

Only 15 minutes after the beginning of the round, the Aronian-Dubov game ended in a draw by repetition. The Armenian-American GM found it reasonable to draw quickly, and have more time to rest before he faces the Group D leader in the semifinals.

In Group A Grischuk managed to win a complicated game against Bacrot, but both players couldn’t make it any further in Leg 1 of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022.

On the other hand, Nakamura faced Esipenko for their spot in the semifinals. The American GM made a terrible mistake on move 14 but Esipenko missed it and moved to a clearly better position. Their game was a “hunger-game” for Nakamura who was struggling the whole game, but eventually managed to “steal” half a point and qualify for the semifinals. “Obviously, it’s a big relief. Very crazy game. You bend but don’t break, goes the saying.” Nakamura stated in his solo interview after the game.

In Group B, Wojtaszek was tied with Fedoseev with 3/5, and Rapport was right behind them with 2.5/5, ready to fight for his spot in the semifinals, which he eventually earned!

Wojtaszek couldn’t exploit his advantage against Oparin, and after a rollercoaster of potential results, the two GMs agreed to a draw. Rapport was “luckier” and slowly but steadily won a long game against Fedoseev. Wojtaszek and Rapport will face each other in tomorrow’s tiebreak to determine the Group B semifinalist.

Lastly, in Group D Wesley So missed some big winning chances against Harikrishna to only draw his game against Harikrishna. Contrastingly, Dominguez cashed out his advantage against Shirov and won this crucial game, which takes him to the tiebreaks against So. “It’s obviously very tough for both. Wesley is always very solid, very strong, especially in rapid time controls. I will fight and we’ll see what happens.” Dominguez said afterward.

Join our live stream with GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko and WIM Jesse February and watch the games.