Champion Of Champions (part nine)

HERE is the tournament bracket after the round of 16.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals            Semi-Finals
1. Steinitz
v----------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102.5)
                                    v................................
8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik (+66)
v----------------------------Botvinnik
11. Fischer
                                    v.................................
13. Kasparov
v----------------------------Alekhine
4. Alekhine (+21.5)

3. Capablanca
v----------------------------Kramnik
14. Kramnik (+12)
                                     v................................
5. Euwe
v----------------------------Karpov
12. Karpov (+11.5)

7. Smyslov (+18)
v----------------------------Smyslov
10. Spassky
                                     v................................
15. Anand
v----------------------------Lasker
2. Lasker (+50.5)

Quarter-Finals
Match One: Carlsen v Tal
Game One
Magnus Carlsen - Mikhail Tal
Sicilian Najdorf/Scheveningen
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6
Tal has 144 games with 2...d6 in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, compared with 99 for 2...e6 and 66 for 2...Nc6.
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
Tal played the text 68 times in Mega20 compared with 50 for 5...Nc6 and 30 for 5...e6.
6.Be3
Carlsen has played eight other moves here but 6.Be3 has been his favourite.
6...e6 7.f3
Carlsen has played the text and 7.g4 twice each, winning both times with 7.f3 but scoring just a draw with 7.g4.

As far as we can get - Tal did not face 7.f3

Komodo11.01 gives Carlsen a minuscule edge but Stockfish11 prefers Black, and the evaluations average out to an advantage for Tal of +19.5.

Game Two
Mikhail Tal - Magnus Carlsen
Spanish Closed
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.a4 Nb6
We have a new record for getting deep into a 'game'. Carlsen has played the text and 15...c5 once each, drawing with the former and losing with the latter, so 15...Nb6 wins on tiebreak. It is not a move Tal faced.

A new record for depth in this tournament

The engines give Tal an averaged advantage of +60, making him a runaway winner of the first quarter-final.
Here is the updated bracket.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals              Semi-Finals
1. Steinitz
v----------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102.5)
                                       v................................Tal
8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal (+79.5)
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik (+66)
v----------------------------Botvinnik
11. Fischer
                                       v.................................
13. Kasparov
v----------------------------Alekhine
4. Alekhine (+21.5)

3. Capablanca
v----------------------------Kramnik
14. Kramnik (+12)
                                        v................................
5. Euwe
v----------------------------Karpov
12. Karpov (+11.5)

7. Smyslov (+18)
v----------------------------Smyslov
10. Spassky
                                        v................................
15. Anand
v----------------------------Lasker
2. Lasker (+50.5)