Vachier-Lagrave Surpasses Carlsen, Sets Up All-French Winners Final With Firouzja

The French numbers one and two will face off in the Division I Winners Final of the CrunchLabs Masters 2024. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave once again proved to be GM Magnus Carlsen's kryptonite, while GM Alireza Firouzja overcame GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In the Losers Bracket, GMs Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively eliminated GMs Fabiano Caruana and Dmitry Andreikin.

The Division II Winners Semifinals will feature GM Alexander Grischuk vs. GM Jules Moussard and GM Vidit Gujrathi vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev. We will look at Fedoseev's victory that knocked GM Hikaru Nakamura down to the Losers Bracket.

The last ones standing in the Division III Winners Semifinals are GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. Daniil Dubov and GM David Anton Guijarro vs. GM Evgeny Alekseev. We will focus on an incredibly dynamic and bizarre opening played in GM David Paravyan vs. Arjun.

Division play continues on Sunday, July 21, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m.

Division I Bracket

• Division I: French Players Stay In Winners, So Sweeps Caruana, Nepomniachtchi Finds Lucky Fork
• Division II: Fedoseev Sends Nakamura To Losers Bracket
• Division III: Arjun Erigaisi Continues In Winners Bracket, Bok Plays Brilliancy

Division I: French Players Stay In Winners, So Sweeps Caruana, Nepomniachtchi Finds Lucky Fork

Winners Semifinals: Vachier-Lagrave Overcomes Carlsen, Firouzja Bamboozles Duda In Time Scramble

Matches in the Winners were four games, two games in the Losers. The top two French grandmasters prevailed on Saturday.

Vachier-Lagrave 3-2 Carlsen

Vachier-Lagrave has now defeated Carlsen three times in the last two CCT seasons. Last year, he defeated Carlsen two times in a row to qualify for the CCT Finals in Toronto, and this year he's done it again. He explained that, stylistically, he may be a problem for the former world champion:

Last time, it felt simply because I played extremely well. This time, it doesn't come to this. I think we both played quite poorly, but somehow maybe the fact that I can see all these ingenious tactics and, you know, sometimes that's what Magnus' weakness can be. Like, he doesn't miss every tactic, of course, but one or two in a game he misses and somehow it proves costly... in that sense, I may be the worst matchup for him than other players."

I may be the worst matchup for him than other players.

—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Every game was decisive, and in fact Vachier-Lagrave lost the first one in a typical "Magnus endgame squeeze." The 2021 world blitz champion struck back in game two, however, with a masterpiece of his own. He explained that he didn't expect to get an opening advantage but was pleasantly surprised:

This Anti-Marshall [Opening], I didn't expect to have anything serious. Magnus played this forever in world championship matches and barely loses as Black, but somehow I gathered some pressure from this nice trick with queen exchange and then... it went my way.

GM Rafael Leitao breaks down our Game of the Day below, from start to finish.

In game three, Carlsen was much better, but he let slip one tactical opportunity that caused the wheels to spin out of control. 24...Nc5! was the beginning of the turnaround and second consecutive victory for the Frenchman. The knight cannot be taken because of 25...d4+, opening the bishop.

In the fourth game, Vachier-Lagrave looked poised to hold an equal endgame but suddenly collapsed when he tried to force matters with a knight trade—losing immediately and going to armageddon. He was "dejected simply because I knew I had missed an easy chance."

Just as it looks like MVL has a draw in the bag to win the match...https://t.co/XfdU8gUzzA#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/FntmWNncmN

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 20, 2024

But fortunately for him, the armageddon tiebreak worked to perfection. He explained, "Somehow I was just hoping to get an easy position to play and, fortunately, it's what I got more or less. Magnus was taking uncharacteristic time out of the opening to figure out the situation." Carlsen never got a chance in the final game.

The world number-one, who is mourning his late mother, will still have another life in the Losers Bracket, where he will play either So, Nepomniachtchi, or Duda.

Firouzja 2.5-1.5 Duda

Before his match, Firouzja posted a bold tweet but one that aged well in the end.

https://t.co/tlsVobUtjZ pic.twitter.com/rkwdQJsjqA

— Alireza Firouzja (@AlirezaFirouzja) July 20, 2024

It looks like a smooth victory on paper, with a black win in game two and three other draws, but the game itself was far from convincing. In fact, Duda was up two pawns, but in a time scramble of under 10 seconds each, managed to throw it all away.

More than the moves themselves, the biggest highlight was Duda's heartbreaking reaction in the clip below when he realized what he'd done.

The Polish number-one didn't manage to get more than a slight advantage in the other two games, which ended in draws and with his elimination from the Winners Bracket.

Losers Round 1: So Sweeps Caruana, Nepomniachtchi Benefits From A Forking Miracle

So and Nepomniachtchi keep their tournament alive, while Caruana and Andreikin earn $7,500 each upon their exit.

So 2-0 Caruana

The all-American clash was an unexpected blowout, with Caruana collapsing in both games. In game one, Caruana sacrificed a pawn and was prepared with the novelty 19...Nc6N, but IM Tania Sachdev pointed out, "This position looks shakier than the year 2020!"—a move before it all went awry.

Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5 Andreikin

The match was essentially decided in one move in the first game. Andreikin had a checkmating attack, but 31.Ng5?? not only threw away the win but even lost on the spot. Nepomniachtchi narrated his thoughts in the post-game interview:

When I played ...Qxc2, I had this ...Qxf2 in mind, but I thought, okay, it is never going to work and so on, and then he played Ng5. I thought, okay, I'm losing even like this, and then suddenly there was some spark... it was, of course, a lucky moment.

Nepomniachtchi, who had a power outage at home and "decided to return to my esports roots, go to the computer club," also ended the interview with a nice quip. What's the secret to winning? Don't blunder a fork:

Nepomniachtchi explains the secret to winning: "If you don't blunder a fork, the match victory is close. What I tried to do was not blunder the fork."#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/67RJvSrRwZ

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 20, 2024

Division II: Fedoseev Sends Nakamura To Losers Bracket

Nakamura finds himself in the Losers Bracket of Division II on the fourth day of the CrunchLabs Masters. Anyone can have an off day, but it speaks to the high level of competition in all three divisions.

The U.S. number-one won the first game and drew the second, but Fedoseev swept the rug from under his feet by winning the last two games. In the last game, the five-time U.S. champion already had a bad position, but can you find the tactic to win material for Black after 35.Bf4?

You can check out Nakamura's video recap below.

Fedoseev won Division II of the 2023 AI Cup, so the big question is, Will he do it again? Besides a $15,000 payday, it also comes with a spot in Division I of the final CCT event this season.

Division II Bracket

Division III: Arjun Erigaisi Continues In Winners Bracket, Bok Plays Brilliancy

After two disappointing days at the beginning of the event, Arjun has been shining in the last two. His win in game one against Paravyan features an interesting opening that saw the Indian GM tuck his king onto the hardly cozy d7-square.

The first 16 moves of this Sveshnikov Sicilian have been played before, many times over the board and in correspondence, and curiously White is absolutely lost. Arjun navigated the complications with the extra piece.

Paravyan continues to survive in the Losers Bracket and will play GM Jaime Santos Latasa next.

Although the following game was played yesterday, and GM Benjamin Bok was eliminated on Saturday by GM Denis Lazavik, he played a game on Friday that deserves to be shared. Game Review awarded Bok four brilliants (!!) starting with 18.Bxg6!!, and his attack against GM Georg Meier in round one is just so pleasant to click through.

Unlike Bok, Meier is still alive in the Losers Bracket and plays GM Oleksandr Bortnyk next in the Losers Round 4.

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:

• • 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