The 33-year-old grandmaster defeated Russian Sergey Karyakin in the 11th round with white pieces, Offsideplus.az reports. Rajabov, who ended the next 4 matches in a draw, in the 12th round with black figures from the US Hikaru Nakamura, in the 13th round with white figures from China Le Quang Lyom, in the 14th round with black figures from India Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, and in the 15th round with white figures from the USA. Wesley made peace with So.
Thus, after 15 rounds, Rajabov reached 8 points and finished the first stage in the 6th place. The chess player in the first "8" advanced to the quarterfinals. Along with him, Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So (both USA), Jan Nepomnyashi (Russia), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Maxim Vashie-Lagrave (France) and Anish Giri (Netherlands) also qualified for the playoffs. won.
The winner of the tournament with a total prize fund of $ 100,000 will receive $ 30,000.