Another two-stage rapid event is underway, the Goldmoney Asian Rapid, which is part of Magnus Carlsen's "Champions Chess Tour". It started a few days ago and I'm not going to cover the games this time around, but for those of you who are casual enough in your following of top-level events that you might only now be finding out about it, here's the scoop:
The eight (of sixteen) players who made it to the knockout stage were, in order, Levon Aronian, Vladislav Artemiev, Ding Liren, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anish Giri, and Arjun Erigaisi. Pairing order for the k.o. stage has 1 play 8, 2 play 7, etc.
In the quarters, Aronian and Erigaisi drew their mini-matches on both days, with Aronian winning in the blitz tiebreak. Carlsen won the first day's mini-match against So but lost the second; he too triumphed in a blitz tiebreak. Ding and Duda drew the first day's mini-match, and Ding won on day two to take both the mini-match and the overall one to advance. Artemiev completely mauled Giri, winning 3-0 on day one and, after winning the first game on day two, drew the next two to clinch overall match victory.
The semis are at the halfway point. Carlsen defeated Aronian in today's mini-match, coming from a loss in game 1 with wins in games 2 and 4 (and a draw in game 3) to take the lead. As for Artemiev, his hot streak came to an screeching halt. His first game with Ding was drawn, but then Ding won the next two to clinch the first mini-match with a game to spare.