LEVON Aronian and Vladislav Artemiev fought a tough first set over the weekend in the finals of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid Tournament at the chess24.com server, in which the former prevailed, 2½-1½.
Aronian and Artemiev emerged as the surprise finalists after eliminating highly-favored Magnus Carlsen and Liren Ding, respectively, in the semifinals. In their current battle for third place, Carlsen also defeated Ding, 2½-1½, to forge ahead. Like the Aronian-Artemiev finals tussle, the first set outcomes generated similar one-win, three-draw results. Aronian needs only to draw the second set to take the crown and the $30,000 champion’s purse. The finals loser pockets $15,000. Carlsen also needs only a drawn second set to take third place and the $8,500 purse, with the loser getting $6,500.
Our man Wesley So and the other losing quarterfinalists Anish Giri, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Arjun Ergaisi, each got $5,000 consolation prizes.
After this event ends, Aronian and Wesley move on to Croatia for the Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz tournaments slated there from July 5 to 12.
Carlsen, M (2847)-Aronian, L (2781) [C53]
chess24.com (sf\2.32) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 a6 8.Nbd2 Ba7 9.0-0 0-0 10.a4 Na5 11.Ba2 g5 12.Bg3 Nh5 13.b4 Nxg3 14.hxg3 Nc6 15.Nh2 Kg7 16.g4 Qf6 17.g3 Ne7 18.Kg2 Ng8 19.f4 exf4 20.d4 Ne7 21.Nc4 d5 22.e5 Qc6 23.b5 axb5 24.axb5 Qxb5 25.Nd2 Ng6 26.Qc2 Be6 27.Bb1 c5 28.Ndf3 cxd4 29.Rxa7 Rxa7 30.Nxd4 Qb6 31.Nf5+ Kh8 32.Nf3 fxg3 33.Rh1 Qf2+ 34.Qxf2 gxf2 35.Kxf2 Ra1 36.Rxh6+ Kg8 37.Bd3 Rc8 38.N5d4 Nf4 39.Bf5 Rxc3 0-1
Artemiev, V (2704)-Ding, L (2799) [A07]
chess24.com (sf\2.32) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 e6 5.b3 Be7 6.Bb2 0-0 7.c4 d4 8.b4 Qc7 9.bxc5 e5 10.e3 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Nc6 13.exd4 exd4 14.d3 Bxc5 15.Nd2 Ne5 16.Qf5 Rae8 17.Nb3 Nfd7 18.Bxd4 Bxd4 19.Nxd4 g6 20.Qf4 Qd8 21.Rad1 Nc5 22.Nb3 Ncxd3 23.Qe4 Re7 24.f4 Qb6+ 25.Qd4 Qxd4+ 26.Nxd4 Rd8 27.Bd5 Nxc4 28.Bxc4 Rxd4 29.Bxd3 Re3 30.Bc2 Rxg3+ 31.Kf2 Rxd1 32.Rxd1 Rxh3 33.Bb3 Rh5 34.Rd7 Rf5 35.Kg3 b5 36.Rxa7 Kg7 37.Rd7 h6 38.Kg4 h5+ 39.Kg3 Kf8 40.Bc2 Rc5 41.Bb3 Rf5 42.Rd5 Rxd5 43.Bxd5 b4 44.Kh4 Kg7 45.f5 gxf5 46.Kg5 h4 47.Kxf5 h3 48.Kg4 h2 49.Kg3 f5 50.Kxh2 Kf6 51.Kg3 Ke5 52.Bb3 Ke4 53.Bc2+ Ke5 54.Kf3 f4 55.Bh7 Kd4 56.Kxf4 Kc3 57.Bg8 Kb2 58.Ke5 Ka3 59.Bb3 Kb2 60.Kd4 Ka3 61.Kc5 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Artemiev, V (2704) [D02]
chess24.com (f\3.13) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bf5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nh4 Bg6 6.Qb3 Nc6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.e3 Bb4 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Bd2 0-0 11.Bd3 Re8 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Rb8 14.Rae1 g5 15.f3 Qd6 16.a3 g4 17.Qd1 gxf3 18.Rxf3 Re6 19.Bf5 Re7 20.Ref1 Rbe8 21.Qe1 Ne4 22.Qh4 g6 23.Rh3 Qf6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Bxe4 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-Ding, L (2799) [A22]
chess24.com (3.11) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Qb3 Bb4 5.Nd5 Bc5 6.d3 0-0 7.Nf3 d6 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.Be2 Ng6 10.0-0 Re8 11.Bd2 h6 12.Rfd1 Bb6 13.Ne4 c6 14.Bc3 Nh7 15.Bb4 d5 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Nd6 Re6 18.Nxc8 Rxc8 19.Rac1 Nf6 20.g3 Rc7 21.Bf1 Qc8 22.Rxc7 Qxc7 23.Bc3 Re8 24.Rc1 Qd7 25.Bg2 Qf5 26.Rd1 e4 27.dxe4 dxe4 28.Nd2 Ng4 29.Rf1 Nxf2 30.Nc4 Nh3+ 31.Bxh3 Qxh3 32.Nxb6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kd1 2.Qxb1#; 1…Kd3, d1=Q/R 2. Qc3#; 1…d1=N, Ba2 2. Ned4#./PN
