A new name was etched on the Grand Chess Tour trophy as Ding Liren was crowned the 2019 champion after defeating Vachier-Lagrave in the finals. The Chinese player earned $150,000 for his efforts, bringing his winnings to a total of almost $300,000 for the entirety of the tour.
The 2019 Grand Chess Tour is nearing the end after another action-packed day in London. Levon Aronian was very close to equalizing the score, but ultimately was unable to break Magnus Carlsen’s defence. Ding Liren, on the other hand, played a clean game to put away Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
The players returned to the board after spending their day off at the Pro Biz Cup raising money for the UK charity Chess in Schools and Communities. After the opening phase, the commentators expected to see two decisive results. While Carlsen was able to put away his opponent, Vachier-Lagrave escaped unscathed thanks to his resilient and resourceful defense
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren will meet in the finals after defeating Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian respectively. While Ding was dominant in his match, Vachier-Lagrave had to go all the way to tiebreaks to secure his spot. Ding and Vachier-Lagrave will be competing for the $150,000 first place prize and the title of Grand Chess Tour Champion, while Carlsen and Aronian will battle it out for the third place qualifying spot to the 2020 GCT in addition to a $60,000 prize.
The two finalists of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour will be determined in rapid and blitz as both classical games ended in a draw today. The match tomorrow will consist of two rapid and four blitz games, where the wins in rapid are worth four points while the wins in blitz are worth two points.
The semi-finals of 2019 Grand Chess Tour Finals kicked off in Hammersmith London. Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren are competing against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian respectively in a series of classical, rapid and blitz matches to determine the two finalists.