The players have been blitzing out the early moves, but it's another unconventional opening system from Firouzja and another excellent position for Magnus, as we reach the middlegame.
A key challenge for Firouzja is that if he develops his final minor piece (the queenside knight) then Magnus can kick back his other knight and then win the pawn in the center!
Has Firouzja overlooked the fact that now Magnus can push back his other knight and pick up the pawn in the center?!
Magnus quickly plays the nasty idea. He's about to go up material!
It's just a healthy extra pawn here for Magnus, with absolutely no compensation for Firouzja!
Firouzja desperate to create some play against the enemy king, but Magnus can keep the lines shut down by pushing his pawn.
Magnus shuts it all down on the kingside. This is a complete disaster for Firouzja, who finds himself down a pawn and also having to deal with a nasty outpost that Magnus will likely use next for his knight.
Magnus can even push the knight back here to take away any sort of activity.
A natural and strong choice. The knight is headed for the nasty outpost in the center.
Challenging the strong knight.
Trading one pair of knights, to set up the invasion to the central outpost for the remaining knight!
The knight gets entrenched in an ideal square. Even if Firouzja wasn't down a pawn, this would be a struggle. As it stands, it's completely losing.
Firouzja down to just three minutes on the clock already, and the position very easy to play for Magnus and very hard to play for him!
Setting up the possibility of sniping the pawn.
Magnus doesn't defend his hanging pawn, as he sees that Firouzja's queen will be overloaded and he can get it back.
Magnus decides to not get his pawn back, instead focusing on breaking through on the queenside immediately.
Firouzja is still sort of alive here. But long-term Magnus' passed pawn on the left-hand flank looks very dangerous.
Magnus begins the advance of the pawn that he will be hoping will decide matters in his favor in the next 10-15 moves.
Firouzja has to find ways of stabilizing his position, and hope that Magnus blunders in his attempts to convert the full point from here.
Magnus may be eyeing up a plan to bring his rook to the left, to assist the passed pawn.
Trying to tie down Magnus' rook to the defense of the pawn.
Fantastic tactical vision and understanding from Magnus! If Firouzja takes the pawn, he's going to force the queens off and reach a winning endgame!
Firouzja drops his queen in one!
Magnus has been in control throughout most of the day, and this game has left him on the verge of claiming the title! In a lost position and down to seconds, Firouzja drops his queen in one move, ending things on the spot. Alireza is going to have to win with Black in the next game to drag the set out to tiebreaks!
Almost sudden-death!
Alireza Firouzja is up against it here, trailing by one set and with just two games left in what could be the decider set for the title. Magnus, playing for Team Liquid, already knocked out one of the superstars of Team Falcons yesterday by eliminating Hikaru Nakamura in the semi-finals. And yesterday, he stated that today he’s looking to shoot down a second Falcon. He’s tantalizingly close. Can Firouzja strike with the White pieces and lock in a minimum of tiebreaks for set 2? Any other result, and it’s hard to believe that he’ll be able to stop Magnus from taking gold at the Esports World Cup!