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Three out of four quarter-finals favoured the lower-rated contender in Division I of the Chessable Masters. Denis Lazavik beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jose Martinez beat Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Fedoseev beat Alireza Firouzja. The one match that ended with the rating favourite remaining in the winners’ bracket was Magnus Carlsen v. Wesley So, as Carlsen obtained a 2½-1½ victory. | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
The pairings of the knockout phase in all three divisions of the Chessable Masters were set up after an exciting day of online-chess action. Most notably, 17-year-old Denis Lazavik defeated Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri to reach Division I, while knocking his elite opponents down to Division II. Lazavik will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Friday, while perennial favourite Magnus Carlsen will face the ever-dangerous Wesley So. | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
The round-7 clash of co-leaders between England and Germany ended drawn in the open section of the European Team Championship, which allowed Serbia to join them in the lead thanks to a 2½-1½ victory over Romania Alexey Sarana beat Bogdan-Daniel Deac in the one decisive game of the match. Meanwhile, Bulgaria grabbed the sole lead in the women’s section, as they inflicted France’s first loss of the event. | Pictured: Serbia’s Alexandr Predke | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Germany beat Armenia to grab the sole lead after five rounds in the open section of the European Team Championship. Wins for Vincent Keymer and Matthias Bluebaum, both with black, gave the Germans match victory. Four teams are sharing second place a match point back, including Romania, who defeated the former co-leaders from Poland. In the women’s championship, France and Azerbaijan scored convincing wins to remain as co-leaders going into the rest day. | Photo: Paul Meyer-Dunker / German Chess Federation