Play-ins complete, matchups set for round 1 of the Chessable Masters

The CCT Chessable Masters held its play-ins on Monday, where eight players qualified to join invitees Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanandhaa in a 16-player field.

Wei Yi finished first in the 9-round qualifier, earning an automatic spot in the main event with an undefeated 7/9 performance. Yu Yangyi, Dmitry Andreikin, and Lu Shanglei matched him with 7 points, but had to contend with 11 other players at 6.5 for the seven remaining spots. The winners of the two-game matches also earned their entry to the 16-players bracket, as follows:

Interestingly, Magnus’s half of the bracket includes none of his most regular rivals, who will skirmish in the other half. The double-elimination tournament will be played out over the next four days, starting at 11:00 a.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CET, crowing its champion on Friday, February 21st.

Graphics via chess.com