If you needed any evidence that the final standings of the preliminaries of these Meltwater Tour events are meaningless - aside from making sure to finish in the top 8, obviously - here it is: the finalists in the FTX Road to Miami event are the 7th and 8th placed qualifiers, Levon Aronian and Wei Yi, respectively. Their path to the semi-finals was a rocky one, but once there they both showed who was boss, drubbing their opponents.
For Wei Yi, the victim was Richard Rapport. In the first game Wei Yi was close to a win for much of the first 60 moves or so, but didn’t manage to convert that plus. Even so, he kept plugging away as if he was getting paid by the move, and the game dragged on to move 129 before the draw was agreed. Game 2 was a disaster for Rapport. He went for a sideline that has seen some attention over the past year or so, sacrificing a piece for two pawns and a bit of a bind. To his misfortune, he seems to have mixed up his move order, and his compensation dwindled away. Then in game 3 he played a zwischenzug which was just a blunder, and with that the match was over. Rapport had a good tournament overall, but today it seems as if fatigue finally caught up with him. (Don’t forget that he played in the Candidates before this event; Wei Yi did not.)
The first game of the Aronian-Duda match was very well-played. Aronian achieved a pawn-up double-rook ending, but Duda demonstrated excellent technique and drew with ease. (At least with what looked like ease. Our results against Aronian probably wouldn’t be as convincing.) Game 2 also seemed destined to finish as a clean draw, but Duda kept pressing. It could have worked - he had one opportunity to win the game - but his accuracy couldn’t keep up with his ambition and he eventually lost. Game 3, which was drawn, was generally equal or better for Aronian, but Duda did have a one-move opportunity that might have resulted in a tied match. Instead, he entered the last game in a must-win situation, and an opening blunder put a speedy end to his hopes. Aronian 3, Duda 1.
Tomorrow the Aronian-Wei Yi final begins, and this will be a two-day affair. The players will still engage in 4-game sets, but those sets will not have playoffs. If a set finishes 2-2, it counts as a draw. If a player wins one match and draws or wins the other, he wins the overall match (and the tournament). If both matches are drawn or each player wins a match, then and only then will they have a playoff.
Here are some of today’s games, with my comments.