...but Levon Aronian has probably been eliminated from contention for the Candidates. He defeated Ray Robson in the first game - discussed yesterday - but mixed things up in the opening, allowing an obviously strong exchange sacrifice that gave Robson an enduring advantage. He fought for a long time, but eventually lost the game. That cost him 6.4 rating points, making the very unlikely hope of qualifying for the Candidates by rating a near-impossibility. Maybe if Ding Liren draws several more games or even loses one in his event Aronian will keep his very slim chances alive, but those chances are extremely poor.
The good news for Aronian is that he bounced back from the loss to win the playoff, remaining in the so-called Champions bracket. Robson will be in the elimination bracket in this double elimination event, so for now he's still alive.
The other day one winner, Sam Sevian, did not need a playoff to advance. He was never in trouble against Wesley So, and agreed to a draw from a position of strength.
The other two matches, however, did require a playoff after day one draws were followed up with draws today. Leinier Dominguez beat Sam Shankland in the second playoff game to stay in the Champions bracket, while it took Fabiano Caruana until the Armageddon game before he could eliminate Jeffery Xiong - barely. Xiong had Black and a completely won position and only needed to make his 60th move, after which there would be a two-second increment after every move. Xiong...lost on time making his 60th move.
Here's what happens next, on Friday. Aronian will play Dominguez and Sevian will play Caruana. They will play a single classical game, just as everyone did yesterday (Wednesday). In the Elimination bracket, however, we get something different: rapid matches that will finish in one day, between Robson and Shankland, and between So and Xiong. The losers of those matches will be done, while the winners of those matches will play the losers of Sevian-Caruana and Aronian-Dominguez, respectively.
No annotations today, but here are the games.