Can someone explain why they only played for 2 points today in the Airthings Masters Knockout?

On the chessbomb site it states, "Each knockout match consist of 2 rapid mini matches of 4 games. Time control is 15+10."

However, today they only played up to 2 points. MVL and Aronian played 3 rounds with .5 point, .5 point, and Aronian got a win. MVL could have won in a 4th round tying that day's match.

Radjabov won 2 rounds, and they didn't play a 3rd. Unlikely, but Dubov could have won a third and fourth round.

So, why didn't Aronian and MVL play a third round, and why didn't Radjabov and Dubov play at least a third round?

Since Radjabov and Aronian won the rapid mini match yesterday both MVL and Dubov had to win today. After radjabov won 2 rounds the best dubov could get was a draw today, after aronian won the third round best mvl could get was a draw today.

I still don't understand. They could have won by taking it to blitz and winning there. If not blitz, they could have won it in Armageddon. 

Take MVL for example. If he won a fourth round, both would have 2 points. Then they would play 2 games of blitz. If still tied, then Armageddon.

They only play blitz and armageddon if its tied after two days

It could have been tied in a 4th round.

Round 1 

.5 .5

Round 2

1 1

Round 3

Aronian 1.5 / MVL .5

Round 4 (must win for MVL)

Aronian 1.5 MVL 1.5

A match win on the 1st day and the opponent must win the 2nd match on day two for an overall  equal result.

If in the 2nd match the best possible result is a 2/2 score- that match is tied. 

Hence - the 1st player wins the overall match by a score of 1/0 and 1/2 1/2

No, it couldn't.

Radjabov and Aronian WON on the first day. So even if MVL and Dubov could level TODAY'S matches 2-2, that still leaves Radjabov and Aronian ahead (because they won on day 1). 

So there is no need for a Blitz tie-breaker. The matches are over.

MVL and Dubov would have needed to WIN today (not tie) in order to force a Blitz tie-breaker.

It doesn't make sense, why exclude blitz from day 2? You might as well just play 6 rounds on one day instead.

It's the modern "sudden death" tournament rules.

The match is played at a specified time control. If tied, they play another match at a faster time control. If still tied, they shift to an even faster time control.

The idea is to select a winner without unduly delaying the whole event.

How is it delayed? You have to wait for tomorrow regardless. If they played blitz today, that wouldn't have delayed things.

Why would they want to continue on into a Blitz match? They already HAVE a decisive result. Why play yet another match, which at best is redundant and at worst might end up cancelling out that decisive result?

Here are the competition rules, from the organizer's own website:

The Champions Chess Tour Airthings Masters runs December 26-January 3. The preliminary phase is a 12-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advance to a six-day knockout that consists of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advance to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks only if the knockout match is tied after the second day.

So THAT'S your explanation of why there was no Blitz match. A Blitz match would have violated the rules that everyone agreed to when they registered.

The OP is trolling.

No they don't. 

"Why play yet another match, which at best is redundant and at worst might end up cancelling out that decisive result?"

That's like saying, "Why play a 7th inning of baseball if one team is leading in the bottom of the 6th inning?"

"The top eight players advance to a six-day knockout that consists of two days of four-game rapid matches,"

No, what it sounds like is, the top eight players advance to a six-day knockout that consists of one day of four-game rapid matches and possibly another four-game rapid matches if there is no winner on day one.

no, it is more like saying that team 2 is winning after 9.5 innings, so why continue

Which round are you saying is worth more? If they played 6 rounds, they played 6 rounds, not 9.5.

You seem to have a slight reading comprehension problem.

PHASE 1 - consists of a 12-player Rapid round robin tournament. The top eight finishers advance to PHASE 2.

PHASE 2 - consists of a series of knock-out matches. Because we have eight players carried over from PHASE 1, the knock-out phase will require three stages... from eight players down to four in the first knock-out stage, from four players down to two in the second knock-out stage, and from two players down to one... THE WINNER... in the third and final knock-out stage. They have set aside a TOTAL of six days for the PHASE 2 knock-out event, which obviously means two days for each stage. At least, I thought it was obvious.

Each stage consists of TWO four-game rapid matches... one on day 1 and one on day 2 of the stage. Only if the stage is still tied AT THAT POINT are any further games played... and they will be played the same evening, first a round of Blitz games and then (if STILL tied) a round of sudden-death armageddon.

The fault is not in the Airthings match arrangements. The fault is in your expectations.

"Each stage consists of TWO four-game rapid matches... one on day 1 and one on day 2 of the stage."

That sounds like 8 games to me. 2 X 4 = 8. 

The exception to stop after 7 is not viewable with my eyeballs. Where would one expect only 7?

First day : Radjabov 3 - Dubov 1

Second day : Radjabov 2 - Dubov 0

That's FIVE points for Radjabov, out of a maximum possible EIGHT.

He wins the two days of matches. Why play out the remaining two games?

Right now, it's 5 - 1 (Radjabov wins).

Even if he loses all the remaining games, that makes it 5 - 3 (Radjabov wins)

I honestly do not get your point.