And not content with that slip-up, Carlsen proceeded to also make an oversight in game two that almost turned an easy draw into what would have been a dramatic loss and a tiebreak-decider after Abasov - unfancied and seeded 69th going into the contest - cunningly sprang a very unusual bishop sacrifice in the ending that had the Norwegian top-dog scrambling, sans a piece, to secure a technical draw and scrape his way into his first World Cup final. 

But all eyes are firmly now on new hope Pragg, yet another young Indian talent on the rise and who is hungry for his first major title and an elite-level breakthrough. After eliminating Hikaru Nakamura in the quarterfinal tiebreaks, the 18-year-old proceeded to take down another American in the tiebreak-decider, Fabiano Caruana. And having taken down the FIDE world no. 2 and 3 respectively, he now has a date with destiny against Carlsen, world no.1, and greatest of all time!

Already Pragg is rejoicing in having already secured his pre-tournament objective of a place in the Candidates - as also have Abasov and Caruana, with Carlsen declining his spot following his abdication of the crown - and is now looking forward to a crack at the world No.1. And if Pragg does beat Carlsen in the final, then ominously it could be a portent of things to come, as a bevy of Indian prodigies would have ousted the top 4 seeds in Baku.

For Carlsen, now officially heading towards his classical last dance, it is all about honour and the one remaining title left in the game to complete a ‘Career Slam’ before he possibly hangs up his pawns, as he’s never won the World Cup.

Semifinal scores:

Carlsen 1½-½ Abasov

Caruana 2½-3½ Praggnanandhaa

The final and third place playoff start on Tuesday

The FIDE World Cup brackets/pairing tree can be found by clicking the link.



GM Magnus Carlsen - GM Nijat Abasov

FIDE World Cup, Semifinal (1)

B30: Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack 

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Popularised by Aaron Nimzowitsch, the Rossolimo Variation - a perennial favourite of Carlsen's - took off by being almost the exclusive weapon of the one-man Olympiad, GM Nicolas Rossolimo, the US-French-Greek-Russian, who started his Olympiad career playing for France in 1950, then played for the US until 1966, before reverting again to the French tricolour for his final Olympiad in 1972. 3...e6 More challenging from Black has been 3...g6. 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 d6 6.e5 It's a temporary pawn sacrifice from Carlsen, because with Abasov's pawn structure shattered, White should have no trouble regaining the pawn. 6...dxe5 7.d3 f6 8.Nbd2 Nh6 9.Rg1!? It's all strange brew stuff, but this is the most testing line from White, threatening g2-g4-g5. 9...Ba6 10.g4 Nf7 11.Qe2 With Black's pawn structure compromised, Carlsen is in no hurry to regain his pawn. 11...Be7 12.Bb2 Qa5 13.c4 g5

You could try 13...O-O-O but there comes 14.g5! Rd7 15.O-O-O! and a slightly better version for White than what comes in the game. 14.h4 h6 15.Rh1 O-O-O 16.O-O-O! Taking full advantage of the fact that Black can't capture on a2. 16...Qc7 If 16...Qxa2 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Qe4! Kb7 (Not 18...Kc7? 19.Qg6! Rdf8 20.Rxh8 Nxh8 21.Qg7 Nf7 22.Kc2! threatening Ra1! 22...Qa5 23.Ne4 and Black's position is on the brink of collapse) 19.Rxh8 (This time, Black has excellent survival chances after 19.Qg6 Rdf8 20.Rxh8 Nxh8 21.Qg7 Nf7 22.Kc2 Qa5 23.Ra1 Qd8! 24.Ne4 f5 25.gxf5 exf5 26.Ng3 Bf6 27.Qg6 g4 28.Nd2 Ng5 29.Qxf5 e4! 30.Bxf6 Rxf6 31.Qxg5 Qxd3+ 32.Kc1 Qc3+ 33.Kb1 Qd3+ 34.Kc1 Qc3+ and a perpetual check) 19...Rxh8 20.Qg6 Nd6 21.Qg7 Re8 22.Kc2 Qa5 23.Ne4 Nxe4 24.dxe4 Bxc4! 25.Rd7+ Kc8 26.Rxe7 Rxe7 27.Qxe7 Bxb3+! 28.Kxb3 Qb4+ 29.Ka2 Qc4+ 30.Ka3 Qb4+ 31.Ka2 Qc4+ and again, there's no escaping the perpetual check. 17.Ne4 gxh4 18.Nxh4 Rhg8 19.f4! exf4 20.Nxf6 Bxf6 21.Qxe6+ Kb8 22.Qxf6 Bc8 23.Rde1 Carlsen has a little edge, but nothing much to write home to Oslo about. 23...Rd6 24.Qxf4 Rxg4 25.Qe3 Re6 26.Qd2 Ne5 27.Kc2 Kb7 28.Re3 Qe7 29.Nf5 Qg5 30.Bxe5 Rg2 31.Re2 Rxe2 32.Qxe2 Qxf5 33.Rh5 Qf7 34.Qh2?? (see diagram) A dangerous moment in the game that passes by both players who, to be fair, are oblivious to this move being a blunder due to the mutual time-scramble - but not missed by the ever-vigilant Mr Engine! For reasons that will soon become clear, Carlsen had to first play 34.Kb2 Qe7 and only now 35.Qh2 with equality and a likely draw. 34...Rg6?? It's the famous Morecambe & Wise Grieg Piano Concerto syndrome - Black is playing all the right moves, but not necessarily in the right order! The stone-cold killer was 34...Qf1! where there's no defence to ...Rg6-g2 or g1 winning on-the-spot. 35.Bf4 Rf6 36.Be3 Bf5 Now if 36...Re6 looking to "find" the win again, there comes 37.Bxc5! Qf3 38.Kc3! Re2 39.Qg1 Bg4 40.Rxh6 Qf4 41.Rh7+ Kc8 and the king runs to safety with 42.Kb4 as there's no danger to 42...Qd2+ 43.Ka4 Qxa2+ 44.Ba3 and Black's king is now set to be mated after Qxa7; either that or his loses the bishop. 37.Bxc5 Qg6 38.Kc3Just stepping out of the way of the check, and a possible bolthole escape to b4 and Black's in a bad way. 38...Re6? It goes from bad to worse for Abasov. If 38...Bxd3 39.Bxa7! the bishop is taboo due to the little matter of Qc7+ and Ra5 mate! But the best Abasov could hope for is 38...Bg4 39.Re5! Re6 40.Bd4 Rxe5 41.Qxe5 Qg5 42.Qxg5 hxg5 43.Be3 and going sans two pawns but 'Hail Mary' possibilities with an opposite coloured-bishop save. 39.Rh4? It is all getting a bit "random" running up to the time control, with both players clearly showing signs of frayed nerves, as now Carlsen missed the open goal of 39.Bxa7! Re8 The (full) point, as Mr Engine, tells us, is that 39...Kxa7 40.Qc7+ Ka6 41.c5! Qf6+ 42.Kc4! Bxd3+ 43.Kb4 Qd4+ 44.Ka3 and there's no checks left and the Rh5 defends the c5-pawn, leaving Black unable to stop Qb6 mate. 40.a4! Bxd3 41.Rxh6 Qe4 42.Qf2 Bb1 43.Kb2 Ka8 44.Bb6 Bd3 45.Ka3! the king has a safe haven on a3. 45...Qe7+ 46.Bc5 Qe1 47.Rxc6 Qa1+ 48.Kb4 Rb8+ 49.Bb6 winning, with White having abig material plus and Black running out of checks and moves.

39...Bg4 40.Bxa7? Any move in a time-scramble, but particularly the one nearest your clock, as Soviet-era blitz king phenom Genrikh "Smart Chip" Chepukaitis would say. But perhaps with more time on his clock, no doubt Carlsen would have found his only way to try to win on his own merit with 40.Qf4! h5 41.Rh1 Qf6+ 42.Qxf6 Rxf6 43.a4 Rh6 44.Re1 Rh7 45.Re4 Bf5 46.Rf4 Be6 47.b4 h4 48.Rf6 Bd7 49.Bg1 h3 50.Bh2 and take it from here. 40...Qf6+? Ditto with the "any-move-in-a-scramble" bit. The only way to draw was with 40...Qg7+! 41.Bd4 (This time if 41.Kb4? simply 41...Kxa7 with the threat of Qc7+ covered) 41.Kb4! The king can run up the board from the checks, as now 41...Qf8+ 42.Bc5!) 41...Re5 42.d4 More accurate, according to our reliable silicon friend Mr Engine, is 42.Rxh6 Qf8+ 43.Kc3 etc. But by this stage, Carlsen doesn't matter how long the journey is to Rome, so long as he gets there! 42...Qe7+ 43.c5 1-0 And Abasov throws the towel in, faced with 43...Rg5 44.Qb8+ Ka6 45.Qb6#.