MAGNUS Carlsen and Levon Aronian rather breezed through to the semifinal round of the Aimchess US Rapid Tournament after beating their respective rivals, but both Aliresa Firouzja and Vladislav Artemiev went through the proverbial gauntlet before advancing.
Carlsen was simply too much for Jan-Krzysztof Duda, while Aronian subdued Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. But the big story of the second day of the quarterfinals was the victories by Artemiev and Firouzja. Artemiev finally knocked out Leinier Dominguez Perez after two late epic wins in the second set for a 3-1 count. The two drew their first set, 2-2. The Firouzja and Wesley So match was more dramatic, with Wesley coming back from a 2½-½ defeat in the first set, leveling the match, in the second set, 2½-1½, to arrange a tiebreak match of two rapid games. Well, that too was tied, 1-1, setting a final Armageddon match in which the younger Aliresa proved steadier to prevail against the older and tired Wesley.
The semifinals will pit Carlsen against Aronian and Artemiev versus Firouzja.
Duda, J-K (2738)-
Carlsen, M (2847) [C65]
chess24.com (1.21) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Nb3 Bd6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 h5 12.Rg1 hxg4 13.hxg4 Qe7 14.Qe2 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 Qe6 16.Kb1 Rde8 17.Rg3 Nd7 18.Bg5 f6 19.Be3 Bf7 20.c4 b6 21.Nfd2 g5 22.d4 exd4 23.Nxd4 Qe5 24.Nxc6 Qe6 25.Rgg1 Kb7 26.Nd4 Qe5 27.Nf5 Bc5 28.f3 Bxe3 29.Nxe3 Nc5 30.Ka1 Rd8 31.Ndf1 a5 32.Rxd8 Rxd8 33.Ng3 a4 34.Kb1 a3 35.Nd5 c6 36.Ne3 Na4 37.Qc2 Nxb2 38.c5 Rd3 39.Ngf5 bxc5 40.Rh1 Qe6 41.Nd5 cxd5 42.Qxc5 dxe4 0-1
Mamedyarov, S (2782)-
Aronian, L (2782) [D38]
chess24.com (1.21) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Rc1 Rd8 10.Be2 dxc4 11.Qb5 Qe7 12.Bxc4 Na5 13.a3 Bd7 14.Qxb4 Qxb4 15.axb4 Nxc4 16.b3 Nd6 17.Ne5 a5 18.bxa5 Rxa5 19.Kd2 Be8 20.Kc2 c5 21.dxc5 Rxc5 22.Nd3 Rg5 23.g3 Bc6 24.Rhe1 Ne4 25.Rcd1 Nxc3 26.Kxc3 Bf3 27.Ra1 Rgd5 28.Nb2 b5 29.e4 Rd4 30.b4 e5 31.Ra5 Rc8+ 32.Kb3 Bxe4 33.Rxb5 Bd5+ 34.Ka3 Rc3+ 35.Ka4 Bc6 0-1
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-
Artemiev, V (2704) [C55]
chess24.com (1.23) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 d6 7.a4 h6 8.a5 a6 9.h3 Nh7 10.Nc3 Ng5 11.Nd5 Nxf3+ 12.Qxf3 Kh7 13.c3 f5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.d4 Bh4 16.Be3 Bg6 17.Qg4 Bf5 18.Qe2 exd4 19.cxd4 Ne7 20.Nf4 d5 21.Bd3 Qd7 22.Qg4 Bf6 23.Bd2 Kg8 24.Bxf5 Qxf5 25.Ne6 Rf7 26.Nxc7 Qxg4 27.hxg4 Rc8 28.Ne6 Rc2 29.Be3 Nc6 30.b3 g5 31.Rac1 Ra2 32.b4 Re7 33.Nc5 Nxb4 34.Rb1 Nc6 35.Rxb7 Rxb7 36.Nxb7 Nxd4 37.Nc5 Nc2 38.Rd1 Nxe3 39.fxe3 Rxa5 40.Nd7 Bg7 41.Nb6 d4 42.exd4 Ra1 43.Rxa1 Bxd4+ 44.Kf1 Bxa1 45.Ke2 Kf7 46.Nd5 a5 47.Kd3 Ke6 48.Ne3 Bg7 49.Nf5 Bf8 50.Ng3 Ke5 51.Nh5 a4 52.Kc4 Ke4 53.Kc3 Ke3 54.Kc2 Kf2 55.g3 Kf3 56.Nf6 Kxg3 57.Kb1 Kh4 58.Ka2 Bg7 0-1
So, Wesley (2772)-
Firouzja, A (2759) [C50]
chess24.com (1.23) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 a6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Ba7 9.a4 g5 10.Bg3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Nh7 12.Kh1 Kg7 13.d4 h5 14.h3 Qf6 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.b4 g4 17.b5 gxf3 18.Nxf3 Na5 19.Bxe5 Nxc4 20.Bxf6+ Nxf6 21.Qe2 Be6 22.Nd4 Ne5 23.f4 Bc4 24.Qe3 Ng6 25.f5 Bxf1 26.Rxf1 Rae8 27.fxg6 fxg6 28.e5 axb5 29.exf6+ Rxf6 30.Qxe8 Rxf1+ 31.Kh2 Bxd4 32.cxd4 bxa4 33.Qe5+ Kh6 34.Qxc7 b5 35.Qb8 a3 36.Qxb5 Rf4 37.Qb8 Rf7 1-0
Firouzja, A (2759)-
So, Wesley (2772) [C42]
chess24.com (1.32) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bd3 d5 6.Qe2 Qe7 7.0-0 Nd6 8.Qd1 Qd8 9.Re1+ Be7 10.Nc3 c6 11.b3 0-0 12.Ba3 Bg4 13.h3 Bh5 14.Qe2 Bf6 15.Qe3 Re8 16.Qf4 Rxe1+ 17.Rxe1 Ne8 18.g4 Bg6 19.Bxg6 hxg6 20.Qb4 Nd7 21.Qxb7 Rc8 22.Na4 Nc7 23.Qxc6 Ne6 24.Qxd5 Rxc2 25.Bd6 Ndc5 26.Nc3 Bxc3 27.dxc3 Nf4 28.Qxc5 Nxh3+ 29.Kg2 Nxf2 30.Kg3 Qd7 31.Qd4 Qc6 32.Bf4 Qc8 33.Bd2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Re5 2.Ng5#; 1…Rxc6 2.Bd5#; 1…Nxc6 2.R2xc4#; 1…Ne6/b5/xb3/xc2/e2 2.R6xc4#./PN
