World champion Magnus Carlsen became the second player to secure a place in the semifinals of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge in Scotland.
Carlsen disposed of Filipino grandmaster Wesley So in three games, with his series win setting him up with a match-up against Hikaru Nakamura.
Sergey Karjakin tied the overall score with Daniil Dubov after winning a tough second rubber match with the latter in their best-of-three duel.
The winner will advance to the semifinals that will be decided on Wednesday.
The Lindores Abbey Chess Challenge, which started on May 18, had 12 players taking part.
After a three-day preliminary, the best eight players will advance to the deciding knockout encounter.
The Carlsen-So matches were a repeat of last year's Fischer Random World Championship final.
In game one, the world champion engaged So in the long opening game of the Ruy Lopez before getting the upperhand in the middle game.
With Carlsen pressing on in the g-file, So's defense collapsed under pressure and he quit on the 61st move.
Carlsen had a passed pawn on the center file when it was over.