Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi bounced from one-point deficits to complete 3-2 wins over Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the third round of Magnus Carlsen Invitational online chess tournament on Tuesday.
After the first two games ended in draws, Liren took the third to move within a draw of winning the best-of-four game encounter.
But Caruana, who now shares the second spot, drew level by winning the fourth. In the tie-break Armageddon game, Caruana played black and was declared the winner for denying his rival a win with white pieces.
The results: Third round: Fabiano Caruana (USA) bt Ding Liren 3-2; Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) bt Maxime Vachier Lagrave (Fra) 3-2.
Standings (after three rounds): 1-2. Magnus Carlsen (Nor), Fabiano Caruana (USA) (5 points).
3-5. Maxime Vachier Lagrave (Fra), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Ding Liren (Chn) (4 each).
6. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) (2), 7-8. Alireza Firouzja (Iri) and Anish Giri (Ned) (0 each).
