Semi-Final of FIDE Grand Prix Leg Begins in Belgrade

Dmitry Andreikin drew his game against Anish Giri.

The semi-final of the FIDE Grand Prix leg started in Belgrade. Dmitry Andrekin, who had the black pieces against Anish Giri, managed to hold quite a dangerous position. In the second match, Richard Rapport won against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

The return games will be played on Thursday, 10 March. In case of a tie, a 15+10 two-game match is played. If still tied, a 3+2 two-game match follows and then, if needed, an Armageddon game, where White has 5 minutes to Black's 4, but a draw counts as a win for Black.

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Meanwhile, FIDE announced that the pools for the last leg of the FIDE Grand Prix had been determined. The tournament will be held in Berlin from 21 March to 4 April. The pools are as follows:

Pool A:

Levon Aronian (USA), 2785
Hikaru Nakamura, (USA), 2750
Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE), 2719
Grigoriy Oparin (FIDE), 2674

Pool B:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2776
Leinier Dominguez (USA), 2756
Daniil Dubov (FIDE), 2711
Vincent Keymer (Germany), 2655

Pool C: 

Wesley So (USA), 2778
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761
Sam Shankland (USA), 2704
Alexandr Predke (FIDE), 2682

Pool D:

Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2771
Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE), 2726
Yu Yangyi (China), 2713
Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623.

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