CrunchLabs Masters Day 7: Grischuk Beats Vidit Twice To Win Division II, Arjun Tops Division III With Recreation To Spare

Divisions II and III of the CrunchLabs Masters 2024 got here to a detailed on Tuesday. GM Alexander Grischuk rose from the ashes of the Losers Bracket and defeated GM Vidit Gujrathi in two matches to win Division II, whereas GM Arjun Erigaisi beat GM Evgeny Alekseev 2.5-0.5 in a a lot faster duel, profitable with a recreation to spare.

The weeklong match ends with the Division I Grand Ultimate between GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, on Wednesday, July 24, beginning at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m.

Division II: Grischuk Rises From The Ashes, Completes Redemption Arc

Grischuk convincingly gained Division II and defeated two of the world’s top-10 alongside the best way, GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. He misplaced in opposition to Vidit within the Winners Ultimate however obtained his revenge on Tuesday when he defeated his rival twice in consecutive matches. 

The primary match was 4 video games, and the second was two.

Grand Ultimate: Vidit 2-3 Grischuk

After exchanging victories in video games two and three, Grischuk took the primary match by profitable with White within the armageddon tiebreak.

Vidit was the primary to guide after recreation two, the place his opponent began to err as soon as he reached below 10 seconds in opposition to a minute. The Indian grandmaster introduced his rook to a2 with decisive impact.

In recreation three, Grischuk transformed a protracted endgame with the imbalance of queen in opposition to rook and knight and, after a draw, gained once more within the armageddon. It featured a London System with opposite-sides castling (one thing you do not see on daily basis), and a positional squeeze ultimately erupted right into a direct assault in opposition to the black king.

GM Rafael Leitao covers the complete recreation from begin to end within the annotations beneath.

Grand Ultimate Reset: Grischuk 2-0 Vidit

The second match was a sweep, and sadly for Vidit, he missed direct probabilities to a minimum of maintain a attract each video games. In his interview, Grischuk praised Vidit’s tenacity, saying:

He is like a rock. It’s totally tough to beat him, so it is advisable to preserve pouncing on him to make small holes within the rock, and perhaps, ultimately, he can collapse. But it surely takes big effort to beat him as soon as, and I managed [to win] a number of instances at this time.

We actually noticed holes within the rock within the second match. Within the first recreation, Grischuk outplayed his opponent and exhibited flawless approach—till he hung a complete knight in a single transfer. Within the time scramble that ensued, Vidit was equal, then shedding, equal, and shedding once more till lastly, the sport ended with a degree for the three-time world blitz champion.

Grischuk conducts the benefit admirably, then hangs a complete knight, after which wins the sport anyway!https://t.co/MqGSAG9OJ9#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/kIgYD3d2XB

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 23, 2024

Within the second recreation, Vidit achieved a profitable place in a must-win recreation. Grischuk’s expression when he blundered 30…fxg5? 31.Rxd3! is price greater than phrases:

Vidit was a chunk up however had a barely uncovered king. If he might handle to keep away from any perpetual checks, the sport ought to have been within the bag, however alas, after 39.Rd1? Grischuk discovered a miraculous method to attain a draw. Vidit resigned in an equal place because it made no distinction to the match rating:

Grischuk wins $15,000, 50 tour factors, and an computerized spot in Division I of the following occasion. There, he’ll have an opportunity to qualify for the end-of-year CCT Finals. He mentioned it could be good, however he additionally has no particular technique to get there: “It is not a Swiss match the place you possibly can attempt to accept a +2 rating… there isn’t any technique besides attempting to win each match you play.”

… there isn’t any technique besides attempting to win each match you play.

—Alexander Grischuk

Extra proximally, we’ll see Grischuk on the 2024 Pace Chess Championship, which begins this Thursday. He’s scheduled to play Firouzja within the spherical of 16 on July 29.

As runner-up, Vidit earns $10,000, 40 tour factors, and a spot in Division I Placement Spherical 2 of the following occasion, so he will not need to undergo the Play-in once more.

Division II Bracket

Division III: Undefeated Arjun Wins With Recreation To Spare

It is a terrific bounce-back for Arjun, who suffered a sequence of unlucky occasions on the primary two days of the match. Within the Play-in, he went 5.5/7 earlier than shedding the ultimate two rounds, thus lacking out on Division I. Then, in Division Play, he was swept 2-0 by GM Abhimanyu Puranik and thus did not qualify for Division II both.

From then on, nevertheless, Arjun went again to his profitable methods and claimed the third division with out shedding a single match. He earns $7,500, 30 tour factors, and a spot in Division I Placement Spherical 2 of the following occasion. Alekseev earns $6,000 and 25 tour factors and should play within the Play-in of the following occasion.

Division III Bracket

You may see the leaderboard of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour beneath. Please observe that it is going to be up to date after the match between Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave on the following day.

 Leaderboard