Sarin Shocks Giri in Armageddon, So Knocks Out Nakamura: Flash Report

This is a flash report. The full report will be added shortly.

GMs Wesley So and Nihal Sarin confirmed their progression to the Chess.com Global Championship final on Saturday after winning arduous semifinal matches. The players will compete for the top prize of $200,000 USD and the winner will be crowned the inaugural champion. 

The semifinal between GMs Anish Giri and Sarin was decided in an armageddon tiebreaker following a 4-4 result in the regulation games. 18-year-old Nihal bamboozled Giri in a theoretically drawn rook endgame and secured the win, resulting in one of the most important wins of his career.

So and GM Hikaru Nakamura began the day in the same fashion as on Friday, splitting the points in their first two matches before So lashed out in game seven and won with the black pieces.

In a must-win eighth game, Nakamura found himself in a tempestuous middlegame where the material was certainly imbalanced but So handled the situation calmly, taking the match 5-3 and booking his spot in the grand finale alongside Sarin.

The blockbuster final will begin on Sunday, November 6, starting at 9 a.m. PT / 17:00 CET.