World Cup, Round 6 (Semi-finals), Day 2: Again Draws; This Time Ding Liren Misses a Big Chance
Today's games were an echo of yesterday's. Once again Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian made a short, effortless draw that suggests that even if collusion wasn't involved, both players were very willing from the start of the match to postpone the real battle to the tiebreaks. And once again Ding Liren and Wesley So played a fighting game in which White was pressing and had an opportunity to win or at least enjoy a very serious advantage, but failed to convert the chance. (I've annotated the games here.)
Tomorrow's action will thus decide the fate of both matches, and with it the identity of two of the Candidates. The money going to the winner, as opposed to the runner-up, will be a nice chunk of change, but the biggest prize is getting to the finals, and thus the Candidates. The most important action of the entire tournament takes place tomorrow, so be sure to tune in!
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