Paris, Apr 11 (PTI) World number four Arjun Erigaisi was outplayed by Ian Nepomniachtchi in the opening game of the 5–9 place tiebreak at the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam here.

Young German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer produced a commendable performance to oust Nepomniachtchi in the first-round tiebreaker. The winner of the inaugural Grand Slam held in Germany earlier this year, Keymer continued to impress, holding American star Hikaru Nakamura to a draw with the black pieces.

India’s hopes ended in the quarterfinals, but Arjun did have his moments against Nepomniachtchi. However, the Russian, visibly more composed after his earlier setback against Keymer, was the superior player on the day.

It took some time, but Nepomniachtchi eventually succeeded in advancing his queen’s rook pawn to the seventh rank, forcing Arjun to concede.

At the top of the table, two draws in the main bracket have set the stage for an exciting next round. Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by American Fabiano Caruana, while Nakamura split points with Keymer.

Results Semis: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa); Vincent Keymer (Ger) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) Results 5-8 Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) beat Erigaisi Arjun (Ind); Nodirbekbek Abdusatrov beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. PTI cor ATK