Firouzja Neutralizes Nepomniachtchi's Killer Prep, Sets Up All-French Grand Final

GM Alireza Firouzja has succeeded in setting up another all-French clash with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the CrunchLabs Masters 2024 Division I Grand Final. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated GM Magnus Carlsen 2-1 in the Losers Semifinals, but the French number-one took him down in the Losers Final.

Division I is put on pause until Wednesday. Instead, Tuesday will focus solely on the Grand Finals in Division II, featuring GM Vidit Gujrathi vs. GM Alexander Grischuk, and Division III, with GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Evgeny Alekseev. All three divisions feature a rematch of their respective Winners Final.

The Grand Finals in Divisions II and III are on Tuesday, July 23, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m.

Division I Bracket

• Division I: Nepomniachtchi Unleashes Poisonous Prep, Firouzja Survives With Under 10 Seconds
• Division II: Fedoseev Sweeps Kramnik, Grischuk Topples Nakamura 
• Division III: Alekseev Exploits Weak Pawns In Losers Final

Division I: Nepomniachtchi Unleashes Poisonous Prep, Firouzja Survives With Under 10 Seconds

Firouzja won the Losers Bracket on Monday to earn his rematch against Vachier-Lagrave. By reaching the Grand Final, Firouzja has also guaranteed himself a spot in Division I of the final CCT event of the regular season, while Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi qualify directly to Division I Placement Round 2.

Losers Semifinal: Nepomniachtchi 2-1 Carlsen

Carlsen won their last match in the same event, in the Winners Quarterfinals, with a 3-0 sweep. This time, there was just one decisive game—the armageddon—and Nepomniachtchi came out on top. Games one and two ended in deadlocked draws.

In the first game, Carlsen played the Catalan Opening and won a pawn but never had an advantage. The second game featured an adventurous opening that Chess.com labels as "Indian Game: Accelerated Variation" (see below), but it also ended in a high-quality, (low-action) draw after 32 moves.

It came to an armageddon tiebreak, with Nepomniachtchi winning the bid for Black by four seconds, thus defending with seven minutes and 56 seconds. It was a little anticlimactic as the former world champion blundered a tactic shortly after the opening, 14.Bxf3.

The good news was that he wasn't objectively worse after it (and lucky not to be lost); the bad news was that he was in a must-win game and the board didn't favor that outcome. Nepomniachtchi defended convincingly and ultimately won when Carlsen ran out of steam. 

Carlsen reached the end of his road in the CrunchLabs Masters, pocketing $12,500 for fourth place. Importantly, he's already earned a seat at the CCT Finals by winning the Chessable Masters earlier this year, so he's just playing for prize money anyway. Carlsen's mother passed away last week and we extend our deepest condolences to his family.

Firouzja 1.5-0.5 Nepomniachtchi

Firouzja won the first game and drew the second, but it's the draw that earns our Game of the Day distinction. The French grandmaster summarized that "it was a very theoretical match," where the players tested one another in deep opening theory.

In game one, the players repeated their encounter from the Superbet Romania Chess Classic 2024 (played last week), but Firouzja came with the novelty 13.a4N. Firouzja's opening advantage came and went, as it does in rapid chess, and later he outplayed Nepomniachtchi on his own. 

Move 25 was a funny moment on the broadcast as GM Daniel Naroditsky played the "non-move" 25...Rb8 on the analysis board just to demonstrate White's idea, and soon enough it was all played on the board. 

Firouzja walked on hot coals in the second game, where he faced an incredible novelty that could have been worthy of a Candidates Tournament, according to the commentators. Firouzja explained, "The second game, for sure, it was something he wanted to play in classical against me. So, good I faced it in this rapid tournament!"

Firouzja had seen it before, but his time bled as he tried to remember the ideas. "I had this line in the back of my mind, I just had to remember, I had so little time. For sure I checked this line, but I just couldn't remember it. It's so rare to play for White, but it's a very good try, of course." Soon enough, Nepomniachtchi had a commanding time advantage.

10 minutes vs 30 seconds! 🕰️

Crazy time advantage for Nepo, who NEEDS to win here #ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/YLJY0xLIQ8

— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) July 22, 2024

"It goes back to bullet [chess], playing a lot of bullet," said the reigning bullet chess champion. "If you're good at playing bullet, I'm sure you can survive for a few moves." GM Rafael Leitao presents the amazing game below, which was a hard-fought draw.

Nepomniachtchi earns $15,000 for finishing in third, but he narrowly misses the Division I spot that's guaranteed for second place.

Firouzja, who wore a Croatian football (soccer) jersey that he received during the Grand Chess Tour, will play his countryman Vachier-Lagrave in the Grand Final. He lost the last match, but he said he didn't prepare for that one; this time, he plans to take the match more seriously.

"I think Maxime is very well-prepared in this tournament and he also cares more than everybody else in this tournament... I have to prepare next time because I'm on vacation, so I didn't have time to prepare!"

That match will be on Wednesday, while on Tuesday we will focus solely on the Grand Finals in Divisions II and III.

Division II: Fedoseev Sweeps Kramnik, Grischuk Topples Nakamura 

It looked like GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Vladimir Kramnik were on a collision course to meet in the Division II Losers Bracket, but alas both of them were knocked off that trajectory on Monday.

In the first game of Fedoseev vs. Kramnik, which ended 2-0, pins were the recurring theme as White shepherded the passed b-pawn forward.

Nakamura defeated Fedoseev 2-1 in the Semifinals, but then he faced three-time World Blitz Champion Grischuk. After two draws, the latter cracked the super-solid Tarrasch Defense of the Queen's Gambit Declined in the armageddon game, after Nakamura's 17...c4? created a chronic pawn weakness that eventually fell off the board.

You can listen to Nakamura's thoughts in the video recap below.

Division II Bracket

Division III: Alekseev Exploits Weak Pawns In Losers Final

Alekseev defeated GM Shant Sargsyan in the Losers Final 2-1 to earn a rematch against Arjun. He lost their previous match against the Indian GM in this event 2.5-1.5 in the Winners Final. 

The theme of both his victories against Sargsyan was capitalizing on pawn weaknesses. In the first game, Black suffered with the weak e-pawn, though he could have sacrificed it earlier for compensation.

The second game was even more clear-cut, as Black voluntarily gave himself a weakness on c4—one that was devoured immediately by the white pieces, as if in a pool full of piranhas. 

Division III Bracket

The 2024 CrunchLabs Masters is the third of the Champions Chess Tour's four events and determines one of the players who'll make it to the in-person CCT Finals. The event started on July 17 at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST and features a $300,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• • Vachier-Lagrave Reaches Div I Grand Final As Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi Set Up Repeat Clash
  • Vachier-Lagrave Surpasses Carlsen, Sets Up All-French Winners Final With Firouzja
  • Firouzja Recovers After 9-Move Loss, Joins Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Duda In Winners
  • Caruana, Wesley So, Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Andreikin Advance To Division I
  • Nepomniachtchi Wins Play-in On Tiebreaks Over Nakamura, Antipov
  • Announcing The 2024 CrunchLabs Masters, Champions Chess Tour's Third Even