Tie-breaks Needed In Kazan Semis

Two more draws in the last semi-final games in Kazan ensured that both matches will go to tie-breaks on Monday.

Kamsky improved on his opening play in game two, and soon equalised out of the Grunfeld leading to an early draw offer from Gelfand which he accepted.

The entertainment value for the day was saved by the other game between Kramnik and Grischuk. Kramnik gained the upper hand in another English opening, and took big risks in Grischuk's habitual time-trouble to complicate the position.

Grischuk's nerves and luck held again, as he survived to the time control and Kramnik had nothing better than a perpetual check.  Will Grischuk eliminate Kramnik in the tie-breaks as he did with Aronian?

Kramnik pushed Grischuk to the brink...

...but Grischuk survived...

...despite having only 14 seconds left for his last 3 moves!

You didn't have to be a body language expert to decipher Gelfand's feelings!

Tie-breaks await all the players tomorrow

The tie-break format is the same as for the quarter-finals. There will be four games at a rate of 25 minutes plus a 10 second increment. If scores are still level then there will be up to 5 pairs of blitz games at a rate of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment. If the scores are still level then there will be a sudden-death game (5 mins v 4 mins, with a 3 second increment after move 60).

The tie-breaks will start tomorrow at the usual time of 3pm in Kazan (11:00 UTC, 07:00 Eastern) and Chess.com will be covering it live on Chess.com TV with GM Melik Khachiyan and Jason "The Poet" Stoneking. Starting times for the coverage will be announced in the Official Chess.com/TV Group.

As usual, live video of the playing hall, and replays of all the previous days can be found here.

Pictures taken from the live coverage at the official website.