C Qualifier final stage of the chess24 Banter Series

Rauf Mamedov will take on Aryan Tari this Saturday in one of three finals to decide who joins Sam Shankland and Liem Quang Le in qualifying for the 16-player final stage of the chess24 Banter Series, an event that will feature the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Rauf reached the final by defeating Loek van Wely (who began by mouse-slipping a rook twice in a row!) and Ray Robson. Aryan Tari defeated Mateusz Bartel and then Jorden van Foreest. The semi-finals featured only two draws in 14 games!

This week the C (Sunday and Monday), D (Tuesday and Wednesday) and E (Thursday and Friday) Qualifiers play quarterfinals and semi-finals, before the finals all take place on Saturday. The goal is to join Sam Shankland and Liem Quang Lie in qualifying for the 16-player chess24 Banter Series Final.

Quarterfinals: mouse-slips and mate-in-1s
The quarterfinals were a tale of two halves, with one side of the draw featuring two crushing victories. Rauf Mamedov beat Loek van Wely 5:1 with four wins and no losses, while Ray Robson wrapped up a 4.5:0.5 victory even quicker against 14-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh.

The scores didn’t tell the whole story, though, with 8-time Dutch Chess Champion Loek van Wely giving Rauf Mamedov a huge head start. To lose one rook to a mouse-slip may be regarded as a misfortune…

Cheparinov-Narayanan is at 16:00 CEST while Keymer-Huschenbeth is at 21:00 CEST and you can watch all the action with the players’ commentary on chess24.

See also:

• Banter Series Day 3: “The greatest game I’ve played in my life!”
• Banter Series Day 2: Qualifier A: Sarin vs Shankland
• Banter Series Day 1: The first four winners
• Event page with both live streams side-by-side
• Tournament page with all results
• The chess24 Banter Series, a new Banter Blitz Cup!
• YouTube playlist with all the players