A pretty calm and dry queen's pawn position for now, exactly what Hikaru wants since a draw alone is enough to punch his ticket into the next stage of the winners bracket!
A clever pawn sacrifice from Hikaru. He's happy to give up a little bit of material, in order to bring his bishop and knight to life!
The pin along the open file ensures that Hikaru will get his piece back very soon. Ding needs to find any way possible in order to keep complications (and thus winning chances) alive.
Ding certainly is not out of the running just yet. That pawn could be a dangerous one for Hikaru to deal with long term.
Oh man, Ding had built up a winning rook and pawn endgame position. But, likely worried about losing on time like in the first couple of games, he rushes the pawn advance and now Hikaru is back in the game with something very close to equality!
Heartbreak for Ding, as there is no way for him to force a win in spite of having an extra pawn. Hikaru should hold this endgame with ease.
Ding will have to win on time against Hikaru if he wants to stay alive in the match. But if anything, I imagine it's going to be Hikaru who is the favorite if it does go down to the clocks!
He joins Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (plus the winner of Fedoseev vs Nepo, whose match is still continuing). It's going to be quite the semi-finals tomorrow, and of course the first of the finals after that! Will we see Magnus once again dominating the field like today, or will one of the other quarterfinalists stand in his way?! Let's see tomorrow!