While GM Sam Sevian continues to lead the FTX Road to Miami tournament preliminaries after the third day, top GMs such as Anish Giri, GM Levon Aronian, and GM Leinier Dominguez are not certain of the knockout phase just yet. There are three rounds to go, when only the top eight players continue playing.

21-year-old Sevian continued his good tournament staying undefeated, with two draws and wins against GMs Sam Shankland and Wei Yi.

The Chinese grandmaster, who turned 23 last month, got to play a Najdorf with an extra tempo which, in itself, is not necessarily better for White. Sevian chose a solid setup and then slowly outplayed his opponent, although there were some missed chances for Wei:

Both Aronian and Giri are on 17 points, good for a shared seventh place. The Dutchman drew his four games on Tuesday, while Aronian scored 50 percent as well with a loss and a win. Dominguez, another player one would expect higher in the standings, was on minus three after the second day but recovered somewhat today with a plus-two score.

In the clash between the current number two and three in the standings, Erigaisi this time played the opposite role as before, losing a winning position in another wild fight. Like Sevian, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda hasn’t lost a game yet.

As the only player on Tuesday to score three wins, GM Arjun Erigaisi remained in second place. His last win is given as a puzzle. It was GM Ju Wenjun’s fourth loss of the day (which included one loss on time and one disconnection) and she’s now out of contention.

FTX Road to Miami | Day 3 Standings

All Games Day 3

The 2022 Champions Chess Tour’s fifth event, the FXT Road To Miami, takes place July 10-17, 2022 on chess24. The preliminary phase is a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advance to the knockout phase that consists of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advance to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes; Black, four with no increment) tiebreaks only if a knockout match is tied after the second day. The prize fund is $150,000.

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