Moscow Grand Prix, Round 4, Day 3: Nepomniachtchi Wins Playoff and the Event
Congratulations to Ian Nepomniachtchi, who survived a lot of bad positions in the event and finally wound up winning it, defeating Alexander Grischuk in the final. After draws in their classical games, it was time for a rapid playoff yesterday/today (Wednesday). Grischuk had White in game 1, and while he somehow managed to achieve a slight advantage against the Petroff with the ultra-dynamic 3.d3 (/sarc), Nepo was able to defend fairly comfortably. 26...a5! was the clincher, assuring himself of sufficient play to draw.
In game 2 the players contested an Italian Game, and although Grischuk equalized he made a fundamentally wrong choice on move 16 (and again on move 18). Had he parted with the bishop, I think he would maintained objective equality and a position that was fairly easy to handle. He instead kept the bishop and wound up with an offside knight that cost him the game. That initial decision was not fatal - further errors were required - but it was objectively mistaken and sowed the seeds of the subsequent loss.
Official site here, games (with my notes) here; what follows are the Grand Prix points each of the players earned. Note, importantly, that players who won their matches in the classical portion, without needing rapid playoffs, gained an extra point for each such match victory. That's why two players who left in the same round can have differing Grand Prix point totals.
1. Nepomniachtchi 9
2. Grischuk 7
3. Wojtaszek 5
4. Nakamura 3
5-7. Svidler, Wei Yi, Dubov 2
8. So 1
9-16. Giri, Mamedyarov, Aronian, Radjabov, Karjakin, Vitiugov, Duda, Jakovenko 0