Month: September 2017

Ding Liren and Levon Aronian off to Finals – FIDE World Cup 2017

We saw four draws in four classical games in the two semi-final matches (replay). Thus both match-ups headed to the playoffs.

In the match-up between Wesley So and Ding Liren, the first pair of rapid games (25mins + 10sec) ended in further draws, but in the second pair of rapid games (10mins + 10sec), Ding Liren drew first blood in the first game and in the second game he was happy enough for the draw. Replay games here.

Wesley So vs. Ding Liren match-up results – FIDE World Cup 2017 Semifinals

FIDE World Cup 2017 Semi Finals

From 128 players, now we’re down to just 4: Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So and Ding Liren.

Big names that were not able to make it to the Final Four include Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Viswanathan Anand, Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri.

Remember, the winners (2) of the Semi-Final round are secured a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament.