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Vachier-Lagrave Advances To Grand Final Vs. Carlsen

Vachier-Lagrave Advances To Grand Final Vs. Carlsen

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NM AnthonyLevin
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| 33 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won three matches in the Losers Bracket to earn his spot in the 2025 Chess.com Classic Grand Final against GM Magnus Carlsen. He won his first match against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in armageddon, accepting a draw with Black from a winning position. He then swept GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2-0. Finally, he pulled a positional squeeze with the bishop pair against GM Hikaru Nakamura in game two to take the third match.

It'll all be decided in the Grand Final on Friday, May 23, starting at 11:15 a.m. ET / 17:15 CEST / 9:45 p.m. IST.

Playoffs Bracket


Losers Quarterfinals & Semifinal: Vachier-Lagrave Advances

Both matches sped toward armageddon games after two relatively straightforward draws. Abdusattorov and Vachier-Lagrave advanced.

Of the four draws, the most intrigue we had was in the second Abdusattorov-GM Vladimir Fedoseev game, where the Uzbek number-one achieved a pawn-up but still drawn endgame. Fedoseev pumped his fist in the air after holding.

Abdusattorov 1.5-1.5 Fedoseev

As Tania said, "It's almost as if the chess goddess Caissa just smiled upon him after his mammoth effort in that previous game." After pressing unsuccessfully in an equal position, Abdusattorov's ambition paid off in the armageddon.

He was never worse and only better with the black pieces. In the end, he found a winning exchange sacrifice to open the white king, but he made the professional choice of drawing by perpetual check as that was good enough to advance, with a big smile.

Nepomniachtchi 1.5-1.5 Vachier-Lagrave

Like in the other armageddon game, Black neutralized the opening and after 20...Qa1+ only he could be better. Nepomniachtchi, needing to win, was already defending a worse position, and Vachier-Lagrave graciously agreed to a draw offer from a winning position at the end. It was enough to advance.

Losers Semifinal: Abdusattorov 0-2 Vachier-Lagrave

Vachier-Lagrave took game one with the black pieces and mopped up, needing just a draw, with another win in the second game.

Abdusattorov's losing mistake in game one was 37.Nxe6??, an attempt to get three pawns for the piece. But Vachier-Lagrave's in-between move 37...Rc1! was a cold shower; White lost a piece for almost nothing in return.

Winning on demand with the black pieces against a super-GM is always a tall order. Though Abdusattorov at least generated a complicated position, Vachier-Lagrave kept up with the tactics. The Frenchman later won a full bishop and the game, even if he just needed a draw.

Losers Final: Vachier-Lagrave Wins Endgame With Bishop Pair

After a nearly perfect game one, we looked destined for yet another armageddon game when we had an equal and symmetrical endgame in game two. However, after Nakamura's inaccuracy with 26...Ne7?!, Vachier-Lagrave managed to pick up the bishop pair, a small but lasting positional advantage that he paired with a three-minute time advantage.

In the interview, Vachier-Lagrave mentioned that his opponent had internet connectivity issues, saying, "I don't think he should lose from this position, obviously." Nakamura later told Chess.com that his power went out and he played the 26th move in a rush, then spent time getting reconnected via his hotspot. He tweeted about the connectivity issues after the event too.

Nevertheless, Vachier-Lagrave showed us just how to use the two bishops in the endgame. GM Rafael Leitao goes over our Game of the Day below.

You can check out Nakamura's video recap of the day below.

In the interview, Vachier-Lagrave mentioned that his matches yesterday were much more tense, as they decided his qualification for the Esports World Cup. On Thursday, he could play without pressure, or as he put it, "just feeling free and whatever happened happened."

He'll be traveling to Riyadh and believes this event will be "one of the most exciting news chess has had for a while." He mentioned that it's "a big payday for the players as well, but it's not only about that. It's about chess getting more recognition and I think overall it's been a great news for... everyone involved in the chess scene."

[The Esports World Cup is] one of the most exciting news chess has had for a while.

—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

The French number-two has only lost one match in the Playoffs so far, against Carlsen in the Winners Quarterfinals. He'd beaten GMs Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi, and Levon Aronian before his three additional wins today. He said he was most proud of his match against Arjun, where he won a crazy game one despite his "failed preparation," and then followed it up with a win in armageddon.

The last hurdle is the world number-one, whom he'll have to defeat two times—something he's managed to pull off before. Vachier-Lagrave said, "It helps me to think that I've actually done it in the past, twice on the same day, against him. I'll need to be flawless, like what happened two days ago cannot happen again. I cannot blunder a rook in one move and stuff like that. I'm definitely not a favorite tomorrow, that's for sure."

Will Vachier-Lagrave rise to the challenge, or will Carlsen prove himself as the king of the CCT again? Let us know in the comments below!

    How To Watch
    You can watch the event on Chess.com's YouTube or Twitch channels, as well as on GM Hikaru Nakamura's Kick channel. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
    GM Aman Hambleton and IM Tania Sachdev hosted the expert broadcast.

    The Chess.com Classic is the second of two legs in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour. On May 19, the world's best players competed in the Play-in, a nine-round Swiss with a 10-minute time control (no increment). The top eight qualify, with eight invited players, for the Playoffs, a four-day event on May 20-23 with a prize fund of $150,000. The top-12 on the CCT leaderboard make it to the Esports World Cup in the summer of 2025.

    Previous coverage:

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