Jerusalem Masters 2025: Vishy Anand and Arjun Erigaisi advance to the Semifinals
Peter Svidler topped the Round-Robin stage scoring an unbeaten 8/11 at Jerusalem Masters 2025. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vishy Anand and Arjun Erigaisi scored 7.5/11 each. They all advanced to the Knockout stage. Apart from Arjun, the remaining three remained undefeated. The highly anticipated battle between Anand and Arjun ended in a draw. Svidler will face Arjun and Nepomniachtchi will be up against Anand in the Semifinals. Each Knockout stage mini-match will have two Rapid games. In case of a tie, two 3'+2" games will be played. If the score is still tied then Armageddon will decide the winner of that match. Semifinal Game 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: IA Alon Shulman
Semifinals: Arjun vs Svidler and Nepomniachtchi vs Anand
Round 8: Arjun - Gorshtein: 1-0
Arjun Erigaisi (2708) faced Ido Gorshtein (ISR, 2449) only once in a Classical rated game nearly six years ago. That game had ended in a draw. This time it was their first rated Rapid game against each other.
Arjun actually attacked his opponent's rook what looks like a sacrifice as the queen is supported by the b7-pawn. 24...Rd8 25.Nxd6 Nxd6 26.Qxc5 Qa4 27.Ba5 Rd7 28.Bc7 Na6 29.Bxd6+ Rxd6 30.Qa7 and White won as the pawn promotion is inevitable.
Round 9: Kobo - Arjun: 0-1
Arjun Erigaisi (2708) made a nice knight sacrifice to attack on Ori Kobo's (ISR, 2411) kingside.
21.gxf3 Bxf3 22.Rf1?? Qg5+ 23.Kf2 Be4 Black wants to open the f-file to bring the rook into the attack. 24.Qe2 Rad8 25.Bxe4 fxe4+ 26.Ke1 Rxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Rf8+ 28.Ke1 Qh4+ 29.Kd1 Rf2 30.Qxf2 Qxf2 31.Bc5 Qxh2 and it's over.
Kobo - Anand, Round 10
White needed to play 35.f4 exf4 36.bxa4 Nxa4 37.gxf4 Kf6 38.Kf2 Nc3 39.Bc4 Ne4+ would have given White some fighting chance. Ori Kobo (ISR, 2411) made the mistake of playing 35.Ke1?? The legend, Vishy Anand (2727) seized his opportunity 35...a3 36.Kd2 f5 37.f3 f4 38.gxf4 exf4 39.Bf1 g5 40.hxg5 Kg6 and Black went on to win the game.
Round 11: Anand - Arjun: 0.5-0.5
The highly anticipated battle between Vishy Anand and Arjun Erigaisi ended in a well contested draw.
Replay live stream
Format
Time control: 15 minutes, with a 5-second increment starting from move 1.
Tiebreak system (with the exception of a tie for the semi-finals and finals):
• Direct encounter
• The Sonneborn – Berger
• The Koya system
• Higher number of wins with black
• Higher number of games with black.
Semi-Finals and Finals
The first 4 ranked players qualify to the semi-finals.
Semi-final pairings would be 1-4, 2-3.
The semi-finals and finals shall consist of a mini-match as follows: Two 15-5 rapid games.
If the score is tied after the two games (1–1), two 3 min + 2 Ssec blitz games will be played, and, if the score is still tied, a decisive game (Armageddon) will be played with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3-second increment after each move, starting from move 61.
The colour of the pieces is chosen by the participant who won the drawing of lots. The drawing of lots is conducted at the chief arbiter’s discretion.
If the Armageddon game ends in a draw, the player who played with black is declared the winner of the match.
The two winners of the semi-finals qualify to the finals. The finals shall be conducted in the same mini-match format.
The two semi-finals runners up shall compete in a mini match for the 3rd place.
Replay Round 8-11 games
Round 11 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2727 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | ½ - ½ | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2708 | 4 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 1 | 2762 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 1 - 0 | GM | Kobo, Ori | 2411 | 11 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 9 | 2487 | GM | Boruchovsky, Avital | ½ - ½ | GM | Svidler, Peter | 2669 | 5 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2600 | GM | Rodshtein, Maxim | 0 - 1 | GM | Alekseev, Evgeny | 2533 | 8 | PGN | ||
| 5 | 10 | 2449 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | 1 - 0 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2740 | 2 | PGN | ||
| 6 | 7 | 2540 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 0 - 1 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2397 | 12 | PGN |
Standings after Round 11
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | GM | Svidler, Peter | FID | 2669 | Rishon Lezion Chess Club | 8 | 0 | 40,5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | FID | 2762 | 7,5 | 0 | 36,75 | 3,5 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2727 | 7,5 | 0 | 35,5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 4 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2708 | Rishon Lezion Chess Club | 7,5 | 0 | 35,5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | |
| 5 | 7 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | FID | 2540 | Haifa Chess Club | 6,5 | 1 | 34,75 | 3,5 | 2 | 6 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Alekseev, Evgeny | ISR | 2533 | Ashdod Chess Club | 6,5 | 2 | 30,25 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | 10 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | ISR | 2449 | Kfar Saba Chess Club | 6 | 0 | 26,75 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | Rodshtein, Maxim | ISR | 2600 | Rishon Lezion Chess Club | 4 | 0 | 16,5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2740 | 3,5 | 1 | 14,25 | 0,5 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 10 | 12 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | ISR | 2397 | Rishon Lezion Chess Club | 3,5 | 2 | 19,75 | 2,5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 11 | 11 | GM | Kobo, Ori | ISR | 2411 | Beer Sheva Chess Club | 3 | 0 | 14,25 | 1,5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 12 | 9 | GM | Boruchovsky, Avital | ISR | 2487 | Kfar Saba Chess Club | 2,5 | 0 | 12,25 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Semifinal pairings
| 4 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2714 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | GM | Svidler Peter | FID | 2669 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | FID | 2762 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | IND | 2727 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links
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Arjun Erigaisi defeats Vishy Anand in the Finals to clinch Jerusalem Masters 2025
@ 04/12/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Jerusalem Masters 2025 R1-7: Can Arjun Erigaisi and Vishy Anand advance to the Semifinals?
@ 02/12/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |