Magnus Carlsen was a comfortable winner in set one of his Opera Euro Rapid match against
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen's choice of an old variation of the Gruenfeld caused MVL
all sorts of trouble and after 30.Nd5+! he smoothly converted his endgame advantage.
Game two was a sharp Sicilian where MVL had his chances but he eventually slipped into
trouble, MVL was probably drawing anyway but Carlsen blundered away the exchange
and a draw was immediately agreed, this was the first of two very bad oversights
from Carlsen. In the third game Carlsen took Queen's off almost straight away
and by move 20 he was much better - after 31...Bb2 had a forced win with 32.e6,
but then missed checkmate with 34.Bd4+?? (34.Rc8 and it's mate) a trivial tactic that no one at this
level should miss. Carlsen did pull himself together (he immediately realised what he had done)
and pressed again with the small advantage he still had and eventually again got a winning position - but even here it took
two tries (48.Be4? - 48.Rd8+ is winning) - and after 48...Rc7? (48.Rb4=)
Carlsen didn't need another invitation. A comfortable 2.5-0.5 win for Carlsen -
some parts of his game are working well but he's missing tactical details all over the place.
Carlsen: "Today was a lot better. Neither of us played perfectly, especially in the second game... In general, I have to be happy."
MVL: "I certainly didn't play to my best but Magnus was very close to his best.
Wesley So against Teimour Radjabov was expected to be a cagey battle with
very few decisive games, instead it we saw them trade three decisive games
in a row. So won the first game in a King's Indian
where black became extremely passively placed, game two Radjabov found an
old line in the Queen's Gambit to surprise So and converted the advantage he got to a win, game
three was a Sicilian where So gradually got the upper hand - Radjabov decided to give
up a piece for some play, but it was never enough. It took a while but
So converted in the end. The final game of the day saw Radjabov obtain some
small chances with white but this time So held on for a draw and a win in the first set.
Day 2 Semifinals Friday 12th Feb 2021.
