The quarter-finals of EWC’s Chess tournament have been set with incredible match-ups everywhere. Sadly, Jan-Krzysztof Duda will not be in the playoffs following an unbelievable mouse slip that led the Pole to concede instantly.
Chess at the EWC Playoff Bracket
The quarter-finals are:
13:00 (BST): Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Arjun Erigaisi
13:00: Alireza Firouzja vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
15:00: Magnus Carlsen vs Nihal Sarin
15:00: Levon Aronian vs Hikaru Nakamura
A few mouthwatering contests there. Especially interesting are the two qualifiers from the Last Chance Qualifier, Levon Aronian and Nihal Sarin. The two seem to have fully taken the momentum from the qualifier, having had extra time to adapt to the EWC’s ‘no increment’ rule. Can they take down the big guns?
If they cannot, many esports betting sites‘ pre-tournament favourites Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura will clash in today’s Semi-Finals as they are on the same side of the draw. Semi-Finals will begin at approximately 17:00 BST.
UPDATE: Carlsen and Nakamura victories set up El Clásico
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are set to face each other in the semi-finals of the Esports World Cup chess tournament. The two legends will face each other following quarter-final clashes with Nihal Sarin and Levon Aronian. Both made it through the LCQ to bank $90,000 at EWC.
After a draw in the first game, Sarin refused the draw by repetition in the second game and went on to regret not taking it, as the young Indian prodigy went on to lose the match. The third match was simply crushing, with Sarin’s Black Queen left separated from his King, Carlsen was on course for checkmate. Sarin was despondent, processing the loss for 40 seconds before finally resigning.
Quarter-final results are as such:
13:00 (BST): Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-2.5 Arjun Erigaisi
13:00: Alireza Firouzja 3-1 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Magnus Carlsen 2.5-0.5 Nihal Sarin
Levon Aronian 1.5-2.5 Hikaru Nakamura
Semi Finals:
17:00: Arjun Erigaisi vs Alireza Firouzja
19:40: Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura
Duda’s apocalyptic Armageddon vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Wednesday saw the final qualification/elimination matches, with a hugely dramatic day which saw Anish Giri losing from a hugely advantageous position against Nihal Sarin, and ending with Duda’s mouse slip that saw his pawn move one space too few, going D6 instead of D5.
The standard opening exchange was interrupted by the mouse slip. Duda intended to create a fork that would guarantee equalising the board-state, but faced playing the rest of the match with a huge disadvantage after the slip. Despite playing Black in the Armageddon, therefore needing only a draw from the game to progress to the playoffs.
The misclick was labelled the “$25,000 mouse-slip” due to the disparity in prize money between making the playoffs and missing out; however, it is arguably even worse than that, considering the winner of the event gets $250,000.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
