Today, in Madrid, after the second weekend, the applicants for the chess crown resumed. In the 7th round, Azerbaijani Grassmaster Teimur Rajabov plays black figures with American Fabiano Caruana.
Thymur after 6 rounds had 2.5 points, and he shared 5-7th positions. Karuana with 4 points took 2nd place and is fighting for 1st place with the Russian Yan Nepomnya.
In the first six rounds, Rajabov suffered one defeat and tied five times. In the 1st round, Rajabov played white with the Frenchman Alireza Firuja. Then the Azerbaijani Grassmaster lost to the American to the American Hikar Nakamur in black, and in the 3rd round he made a quick draw of white with Jan Nepomnya. After a day of rest, Teimur, playing with black figures, concluded peace with the Poles Yang-Kryshtof Duda, tied white with Chinese Din Lizheny in the 5th round, and before the second day of rest did not play to win with Hungarian Richard Posport.
Today they also play: Richard Rapport (Hungary) – Jan Nepomnya (Russia), Yan -Kshishtof Duda (Poland) – Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Dean Liezhen (China) – Alizer Firuja (France).
Tournament position after the 6th round:
1. Nonal – 4.5 points; 2. Karuana – 4 points; 3-4. Nakamura, rapport – 3 points each; 5-7. Din, Rajabov, Duda – 2.5 points each; 8. Firuja – 2 points.
The competition takes place in two circles. The first circle will end today. Time control – 2 hours for the first 40 moves, 1 hour for the next 20 moves, 15 minutes for the rest of the party with the addition of 30 seconds starting from the 61st move.
If the chess players fighting in the 1st place will gain the same number of points according to the results of 14 rounds, then they will find a tie-break-two batches in quick chess, and if necessary, then blitz until the strongest is determined.
The winner of the tournament will receive 48 thousand euros and the right to challenge the championship crown in a match with the current world champion Magnus Karlsen. True, the Norwegian himself has repeatedly stated that he was not very interested to play a champion match again, noting that he would like to meet with Aliraza Firuja in the struggle for a chess crown. If Carlsen refuses to protect the title, then chess players who took 1st and 2nd places in the applicants’ tournament will compete for the title of world champion.