Vachier-Lagrave Reaches Div I Grand Final As Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi Set Up Repeat Clash

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the Division I Winners Bracket and qualified for the CrunchLabs Masters 2024 Grand Final thanks to beating his compatriot GM Alireza Firouzja 2.5-0.5 on Sunday. Vachier-Lagrave may face Firouzja again, since the winner of GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (their second meeting this tournament) will play Firouzja in the Losers Final after they eliminated GMs Wesley So and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, respectively.

The final of the Winner's Bracket in Division II will be played between GMs Alexander Grischuk and Vidit Gujrathi while the Losers Bracket may still see the "interesting" clash between GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Vladimir Kramnik. In Division III, the final will be played between GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Evgeny Alekseev.

Division play continues on Monday, July 22, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.

Division I Bracket

• Division I: Vachier-Lagrave Reigns Supreme; Carlsen Beats So In Armageddon; Nepomniachtchi Escapes, Then Beats Duda
• Division II: Grischuk, Vidit In Winners Final, Nakamura, Kramnik Might Meet In Losers Bracket
• Division III: Arjun, Alekseev Go To Winners Final

Division I: Vachier-Lagrave Reigns Supreme; Carlsen Beats So In Armageddon; Nepomniachtchi Escapes, Then Beats Duda

With matches in the Winners Bracket having four games, Vachier-Lagrave wasn't there yet when he started with a win followed by a draw, but another win was good for victory. In the Losers Bracket it's two games, and Nepomniachtchi needed just two while Carlsen decided matters in the armageddon:

Winners Bracket: Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-0.5 Firouzja

Vachier-Lagrave is the man in form, that's pretty clear. He has now defeated the winners of the first two Champions Chess Tour events back to back (Carlsen yesterday and Firouzja today) and can enjoy some rest before a final showing in the Grand Final of this third leg.

"The Najdorf felt very good today obviously," Vachier-Lagrave said as he won both his black games with that opening. He had expected his opponent to play 6.h3, like he had done in Zagreb recently, but this time Firouzja tried both 6.Rg1 and 6.f3 in a position where almost any move is playable for White.

In the first game, Vachier-Lagrave missed a tactic (and typically saw it as soon as he made his move,) but got to play it the next move anyway:

The second game was quite a wild affair, particularly in the opening phase and at the very end, when Firouzja got low on time. Even though it was the only draw in this match, it was still a pretty good candidate for Game of the Day, annotated by GM Rafael Leitao:

MVL takes a 1.5-0.5 lead after Firouzja misses a clear win in a crazy game! #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/0z29cGUVJd

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 21, 2024

"Somehow I felt Alireza was always playing fighting chess but a bit too slow," was another comment from Vachier-Lagrave, who admitted that Firouzja had chances to come back in this second game but simply lacked the time. Asked what made the difference today, the winner said: "Time management, for sure."

MVL on what he did better than Firouzja today: "Time management, for sure!" #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/PvWYSEm84s

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 21, 2024

Losers Bracket: Carlsen 2-1 So

Playing on a touchscreen against So, Carlsen got in trouble in the first game but eventually escaped with a draw (while even having a won position for one move). After an uneventful draw in the second game, the players went straight to armageddon where So won the bid to play with the black pieces and 7 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock, vs. Carlsen's 10. The time difference didn't matter much as the world number-one won a beautiful positional game:

With a smooth Armageddon win, @MagnusCarlsen knocks Wesley So out of the Crunchlabs Masters! #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/AOD0GXhQsg

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 21, 2024

Losers Bracket: Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5 Duda

Duda got eliminated over two games, but it could easily have gone the other way. The Polish GM reached a winning endgame in game one, but then spoiled it to a draw:

Duda put up great resistance, but Nepomniachtchi finds a nice finish to clinch a 1.5-0.5 victory! #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/I7r9beIPrg

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 21, 2024

Division II: Grischuk, Vidit In Winners Final, Nakamura, Kramnik Might Meet In Losers Bracket

Grischuk and Vidit will be playing the Winner's Bracket Final. The Russian GM sent GM Jules Moussard to the Losers Bracket, while the Indian player did the same to GM Vladimir Fedoseev. 

Grischuk started with a draw and a win, but Moussard then leveled the score. The more experienced player prevailed by winning the fourth game:

In the other semifinal, it was the first game that eventually decided the outcome. Before three draws, Vidit opened the score as he succeeded in something that's seriously hard to do these days: winning against the Petroff.

We'll have the matchups Moussard-Nakamura and Fedoseev-Kramnik coming up, with the possible "interesting" clash between Nakamura and Kramnik to follow. The latter won his matches against GMs Levon Aronian and Karthikeyan Murali today. 

Here's how Kramnik ousted Aronian, with a win in the armageddon after two draws. Black's 23rd move was puzzling, to say the least, though not as puzzling as his 42nd, missing mate-in-three:

Nice facing the opponent you are sure about 🙂 Mad encounter with Levon, should have finished the match in game 2 but somehow managed to miss win his queen with checks :) But after Levon have missed mate in three with checks in the tiebreak 😁. Qualified somewhere, for tomorrow

— Vladimir Kramnik (@VBkramnik) July 21, 2024

Nakamura first beat GM Maxim Matlakov before defeating GM Vasif Durarbayli. He won both games against the latter and analyzed the second in today's recap video on his YouTube channel. It starts at the 14:30 time stamp, while Nakamura also looks at a game between Aronian and Kramnik and the armageddon game between Carlsen and So.

Division II Bracket

Division III: Arjun, Alekseev Go To Winners Final

Arjun started with a loss in his match with GM Daniil Dubov but immediately bounced back before drawing the third game. The world number-four then also won game four in a match with three victories for the black pieces.

GM David Anton was close to reaching the Winners Final in Division III, since he was 2-1 up against Alekseev after three games. However, the 38-year-old former top grandmaster from Russia showed that he can still be a tough opponent as he won game four and then also the armageddon, which is given below:

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 started 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:

• • Vachier-Lagrave Surpasses Carlsen, Sets Up All-French Winners Final With Firouzja
  • Firouzja Recovers After 9-Move Loss, Joins Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Duda In Winners
  • 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