VLADISLAV Artemiev topped the preliminary round of the Aimchess US Rapid Tournament being played at the chess.com server to lead Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Aliresa Firouzja, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and either Anish Giri or Leinier Dominguez Perez to the quarterfinal round of the event. Giri and Dominguez Perez tied for eighth and ninth places, but our sources showed conflicting tiebreak results. At any rate, the eight-player knockout quarterfinals will start today, Sept. 1.
Artemiev and Giri emerged as the only undefeated players in the preliminaries, with the former scoring six wins and nine draws, while the latter has one win and 14 draws.
Final standings (Preliminary): 1. Artemiev, 10½; 2. Carlsen, 10; 3-4. Aronian, Firouzja, 9½; 5-7. So, Mamedyarov, Duda, 9; 8-9. Dominguez Perez, Giri, 8; 10-11. Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit, 7½; 12-13. Naroditsky, Le, 6; 14. Van Foreest, 4½; 15. Hansen, 3½; 16. Liang, 2½.
So, Wesley (2772)-
Artemiev, V (2704) [C72]
chess24.com (11.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.c3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Re1 Nf6 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 10.dxe5 Nxe4 11.exd6 0-0 12.dxc7 Qxc7 13.Be3 Rfe8 14.Nbd2 Rad8 15.Nd4 Bd5 16.Nxe4 Rxe4 17.Qd2 Rg4 18.g3 Re4 19.Bh6 Bxd4 20.cxd4 Rde8 21.Rxe4 Rxe4 22.Rc1 Qd8 23.Qa5 Re8 24.Qxd8 Rxd8 25.Rc7 Bc6 26.g4 f5 27.gxf5 Rxd4 28.h3 Rd7 29.Rc8+ Kf7 30.Rf8+ Ke7 31.fxg6 Rd1+ 32.Kh2 Rh1+ 33.Kg3 Rg1+ 34.Kh4 Rxg6 35.Kh5 Rxh6+ 36.Kxh6 Kxf8 37.Kxh7 Kf7 38.h4 Bf3 0-1
Mamedyarov, S (2782)-
Le, QL (2709) [E35]
chess24.com (12.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Nd2 Bf5 11.Ndxe4 Bxe4 12.Qd2 c5 13.a3 Ba5 14.e3 cxd4 15.exd4 Re8 16.0-0-0 Nc6 17.f3 Bg6 18.Re1 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Na5 20.Qb2 Rxe1+ 21.Bxe1 Rc8 22.Qb4 Rc6 23.Bb5 Re6 24.c4 Nxc4 25.Bc3 a5 26.Qb3 Qc7 27.Bxc4 dxc4 28.Qb5 Rb6 29.Qe8+ Kh7 30.Re1 Qf4+ 31.Qe3 Qf5 0-1
Liang, A (2587)-
Carlsen, M (2847) [B46]
24.com (12.7) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.e5 Nd7 10.Re1 c5 11.Na4 c4 12.Bf1 Bb7 13.b3 Bc6 14.Nc3 Bb4 15.Bd2 0-0 16.bxc4 dxc4 17.Ne4 Bxd2 18.Nxd2 c3 19.Nc4 Bb5 20.Qd4 Bxc4 21.Qxc4 Qa5 22.Qd4 Rfd8 23.Re3 Rac8 24.a3 Rc5 25.Qb4 Nxe5 26.Qxa5 Rxa5 27.Rxc3 g5 28.g3 Rd2 29.h3 Kg7 30.Rb1 h5 31.Rb6 g4 32.hxg4 hxg4 33.Kg2 Nf3 34.Rc4 Nd4 35.Bd3 e5 36.Rb7 Rb5 37.Ra7 Rb6 38.Rxd4 exd4 39.Rd7 Rf6 0-1
So, Wesley (2772)-
Van Foreest, J (2698) [E32]
chess24.com (15.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Qh4 11.g3 Qh5 12.0-0 g5 13.cxd5 Bxc3 14.bxc3 gxf4 15.dxe6 Nxe5 16.Bxe4 Bxe6 17.Rfe1 Kh8 18.Bxb7 Rab8 19.Bg2 fxg3 20.fxg3 Bc4 21.Qa4 f6 22.Rxe5 fxe5 23.Qxc4 Qg6 24.Nb3 Qc2 25.Be4 Qf2+ 26.Kh1 Rb6 27.Qc7 Rh6 28.Qxe5+ Rff6 29.Bg2 Kg8 30.h3 Rhg6 31.Rg1 Kg7 32.Nc5 Qf5 33.Qd4 Qf2 34.Ne6+ Kh8 35.Nf4 1-0
Vidit, SG (2726)-
Aronian, L (2782) [D38]
chess24.com (15.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Qc2 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Ng4 14.Bd4 c5 15.Bxc5 Re8 16.0-0 Nxe3 17.Bxe3 Rxe3 18.Rae1 Rxe1 19.Rxe1 b5 20.Bf1 Be6 21.a3 Rc8 22.Qf2 a6 23.g3 g6 24.h4 Qf6 25.Re5 Rc1 26.Qd2 Rb1 27.Kf2 Bc4 28.Bg2 a5 29.Qd4 Kg7 30.h5 h6 31.hxg6 fxg6 32.a4 Bf7 33.axb5 g5 34.b6 gxf4 35.b7 Rd1 36.Rg5+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rb4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…b5, exd3 2.Bc5#; 1…Bg7 2.Bxg5#; 1…exf3 2.Bxg5#./PN
