The CrunchLabs Masters was the third leg of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour and it took place from 17-24th July.
The event format was double-elimination knockout through 3 divisions of play with 56 participants and with the rapid time control 10+2.
In the all-French Grand Final of the Division I, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated his compatriot Alireza Firouzja by 3-2 to win the event, earn $30,000 prize, 100 tour points, and secure a spot in the CCT Finals.
The Grand Final match was closely contested with 4 draws until Vachier-Lagrave used the clock advantage in the Armageddon to defeat Firouzja with white pieces.
Earlier in the bracket Vachier-Lagrave beat Firouzja in the Division I Final, but Alireza bounced back to the Winner’s bracket by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Losers Final.
Vachier-Lagrave also beat Magnus Carlsen in the Winners Semifinal, while Nepomniachtchi eliminated the Norwegian in the Losers Semifinal.
Division II had an epic finish with as many as three matches between Alexander Grischuk and Vidit Gujrathi.
Gujrathi first beat Grischuk in the Winners Final by 3-2. But Grischuk quickly returned by eliminating Hikaru Nakamura in the Losers Final.
In the first rematch, Grischuk defeated Gujrathi in the Grand Final by 3-2. A Grand Final Reset followed as this was Vidit’s first loss in the bracket. However, Grischuk was in good form and won again by 2-0 to finally be declared winner of the Division II.
Grischuk is awarded with $15,000, 50 tour points, and an automatic spot in Division I of the next event.
Division III was won convincingly by Arjun Erigaisi, who didn’t lose a single match. He beat Evgeny Alekseev twice, by 2,5-1,5 and 2,5-0,5 in the Winners Final and Grand Final respectively. Erigaisi’s prize is $7,500, 30 tour points, and a spot in Division I Placement Round 2 of the next event.
