Arjun Erigiasi’s gallant show against Levon Aronian ended in the blitz tiebreaker where the Armenian prevailed 1.5-0.5 to set up a clash with Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid online rapid chess tournament on Wednesday.
After enjoying several promising positions in four drawn rapid games, Arjun finally cracked in the first blitz game before Aronian easily gained the draw in the second to advance.
Carlsen survived a brilliant comeback by Wesley So who won third and fourth games to win the second set 2.5-1.5 to force the blitz tiebreaker. Carlsen recovered from the double-blow to win the first game in style. In the second, too, Carlsen reached a winning position and then took a draw needed to go through.
From the lower-half of the draw, Ding Liren and Vladislav Artemiev made it past Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri, respectively.
The results: Quarterfinals: Set Two: Arjun Erigaisi drew with Levon Aronian (Arm) 2-2 (Aronian wins blitz playoff); Wesley So (USA) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 2.5-1.5 (Carlsen wins blitz playoff 1.5-0.5); Ding Liren (Chn) bt Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol) 3-1; Vladislav Artemiev (Rus) bt Anish Giri (Ned) 2-1 Semifinal line-up: Carlsen-Aronian; Ding-Artemiev.
