As noted yesterday, Magnus Carlsen clinched first place in the Meltwater Champions Tour Final with two rounds to spare. Wesley So was close enough, entering the tournament, that he could have contended for first if he had been in better form, while Teimour Radjabov, who has played extremely well, was just a bit too far back entering the event to catch up. But he has come awfully close, and with yet another match win today (over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 2.5-1.5 in the rapids) while Carlsen lost again (to Levon Aronian, 3-1) Carlsen's margin of victory is getting smaller and smaller. Moreover, with Wesley So only managing to overcome Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the blitz tiebreaks (3.5-2.5 overall), Radjabov has passed him to take over clear second place.
In the other two matches, Anish Giri defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5, while Hikaru Nakamura beat Vladislav Artemiev 3.5-2.5 in the blitz tiebreaks. Here are the standings, with a round to go:
1. Carlsen 28.5
2. Radjabov 24
3. So 23.5
4. Aronian 21
5. Nakamura 18
6-7. Artemiev, Giri 14.5
8. Vachier-Lagrave 13.5
9. Duda 12
10. Mamedyarov 9.5
Three players are in the running for second - remember that winning the match in the rapids gives that player 3 points, while winning in the blitz playoff or the Armageddon gives him 2 points (a blitz/Armageddon loss gives a player 1 point, a loss in the rapids gives 0). Here are the final round pairings:
Carlsen - So
MVL - Radjabov
Mamedyarov - Aronian
Duda - Nakamura
Artemiev - Giri
(The first-named player has White in the odd-numbered games.)