The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final ended at the chess24.com server Monday with hard-fought decisions made by world champion Magnus Carlsen (who won this event earlier with two rounds to spare), Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Vladislav Artemiev over their respective opponents.
Carlsen crushed a dispirited Wesley So, 2½-½, and the defeat sank the Filipino-born grandmaster to 4th place overall finish. Wesley started the tournamenr behind Carlsen and was poised to catch up until disaster struck in Rounds 2, 4, 6 and 7. By the time, he faced Carlsen in the final round, the fact that Radjabov has overtaken him for 2nd must have taken its psychological toll on Wesley.
Meanwhile, Aronian also passed So after beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, even as Radjabov firmed up his hold on 2nd place by demolishing Maxime Vachierr-Lagrave. Nakamura ripped Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Artemiev trounced Anish Giri.
The final standings: 1. Carlsen, 31½; 2. Radjabov, 27; 3. Aronian, 24; 4. So, 23½; 5. Nakamura, 21; 6. Artemiev, 17½; 7. Giri, 14½; 8. Vachier-Lagrave, 13½; 9. Duda, 12; 10. Mamedyarov, 9½.
Carlsen,M (2855)-So,Wesley (2778) [A01]
chess24.com (9.1) 2021
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.Nf3 h6 4.g3 Bf5 5.d3 c5 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.Ne5 Nxe5 8.Bxe5 e6 9.Nd2 Be7 10.e4 Bg6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Qe2 Bh5 13.f3 Nd7 14.Bb2 dxe4 15.dxe4 f5 16.exf5 exf5 17.Rad1 Bf6 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Nc4 Rae8 20.Qf2 Re7 21.Rd6 Qc3 22.Rd3 Qf6 23.Rfd1 Ne5 24.Rd6 Qf7 25.Nxe5 Rxe5 26.f4 Re2 27.Qxc5 b6 28.Qc3 Rxg2+ 29.Kxg2 Bxd1 30.Rxd1 Re8 31.Re1 Qd5+ 32.Kg1 Rd8 33.a4 a5 34.Kf2 Kh7 35.Qe5 Qf7 36.Re2 Qh5 37.Kg2 Rd5 38.Qe3 b5 39.axb5 Rxb5 40.Qf3 Qf7 41.Re5 Rxe5 42.fxe5 Qe6 43.Qe2 Qc6+ 44.Kf2 Kg6 45.h4 Kf7 46.h5 Ke6 47.c4 a4 48.bxa4 Qxa4 49.Qd3 Kxe5 50.Qd5+ Kf6 51.Qd6+ Kf7 52.Qg6+ Kg8 53.Qe6+ Kf8 54.Qxf5+ Ke7 55.Qe5+ Kf7 56.Qd5+ Kf6 57.Kf3 Qb3+ 58.Kg4 Qa2 59.Qf5+ Ke7 60.Qe4+ Kf6 61.Qg6+ 1-0
Radjabov,T (2763)-Vachier-Lagrave,M (2763) [D38]
chess24.com (9.2) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Ne4 7.Rc1 c6 8.e3 Nd7 9.Bd3 Ndf6 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Qc2 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bd6 14.Bg3 Nh5 15.c4 dxc4 16.Qxc4 Nxg3 17.hxg3 0-0 18.Kg2 g6 19.Rh1 Kg7 20.d5 c5 21.Qc3+ f6 22.f4 Qe7 23.a4 Rac8 24.Qc4 f5 25.Rb1 Rc7 26.e4 fxe4 27.Rhe1 Qf6 28.Rxe4 Re7 29.Re6 Rxe6 30.dxe6 b6 31.a5 Re8 32.axb6 axb6 33.Rxb6 Qxe6 34.Qc3+ Kh6 35.Bc4 Qe7 36.f5 Be5 37.Qe3+ Kg7 38.Bb5 Rc8 39.Ba6 1-0
Aronian,L (2782)-Mamedyarov,S (2762) [D30]
chess24.com (9.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3 b6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bb7 10.Nxd6+ Qxd6 11.Qe2+ Qe6 12.Qxe6+ fxe6 13.Bf4 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nd5 15.Be5 0-0 16.Rg1 g6 17.Rc1 Nd7 18.Bg3 Rxf3 19.Be4 Rf7 20.Bxd5 exd5 21.Rxc7 Re8+ 22.Kd2 Re4 23.Re1 Rxd4+ 24.Kc3 Re4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26.Kd4 Nc5 27.Kd5 Rf5+ 28.Kc6 Rf6+ 29.Kd5 Nd3 30.Kxe4 Nxf2+ 31.Kd4 Ng4 32.a4 h5 33.Rb7 g5 34.b4 h4 35.Be5 Re6 36.Rg7+ Kf8 37.Rxg5 Nxe5 38.Rxe5 Rg6 39.Kd5 h3 40.Re3 Rg4 41.Rb3 b5 42.a5 Rc4 43.Rxh3 Rxb4 44.Rh6 Ke7 45.Kc5 Rf4 46.Rxa6 Kd7 47.Rd6+ Kc7 48.Rc6+ Kb7 49.Kxb5 Rh4 50.Rc2 Rh5+ 51.Kb4 Ka6 52.Ra2 Rh4+ 53.Kc5 Rh5+ 54.Kd4 Rh8 55.Ke4 Re8+ 56.Kf3 Rf8+ 57.Kg2 Rg8+ 58.Kh1 Rh8 59.Ra3 Rh7 60.h3 Rh6 61.Kg2 Rh8 62.Kh2 Rh7 63.Kg3 Rg7+ 64.Kf4 Rh7 65.Kg5 Rg7+ 66.Kh6 Rc7 67.h4 Rc6+ 68.Kg5 Rc5+ 69.Kg4 Rc4+ 70.Kh3 Rc5 71.Ra4 Kb5 72.Ra3 Ka6 73.Kg3 Rd5 74.Ra4 Kb5 75.Ra2 Ka6 76.Rh2 Rxa5 77.h5 Kb6 78.h6 1-0
Duda,J-K (2756)-Nakamura,H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (9.1) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.0-0 Nb6 9.a4 a5 10.Ne5 Nfd5 11.Bg3 c5 12.Nxc4 Nxc4 13.Bxc4 cxd4 14.Qxd4 Nxc3 15.Qxc3 Bb4 16.Qe5 Bd7 17.Rfd1 Qe7 18.Rd4 Bc6 19.Rg4 g6 20.h4 Rfe8 21.h5 f6 22.Qf5 Kh8 23.Qc2 g5 24.Rxg5 fxg5 25.Be5+ Kg8 26.Qf5 Bd5 27.Bxd5 exd5 28.Bf6 Qe4 29.Qxg5+ Kf7 30.Qg7+ Ke6 31.Qh6 Rg8 32.Bg7+ Kd7 33.Rd1 Ra6 34.Qg5 Be7 35.Qg3 Bd6 36.Qg5 h6 0-1
Giri,A (2777)-Artemiev,V (2699) [D30]
chess24.com (9.4) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bd6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 Nc6 7.b3 dxc4 8.bxc4 e5 9.c5 Be7 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Ne4 12.Ba3 Bxc5 13.Bxc5 Nxc5 14.Nc3 Be6 15.Nb5 Bc4 16.Nxc7 Rac8 17.Rdc1 Na5 18.Nd2 Rxc7 19.Nxc4 Nab3 20.axb3 Nxb3 21.Rcb1 Nxa1 22.Ne3 Rfc8 23.Rxa1 Rc1+ 24.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 25.Nf1 b5 26.Bd5 a5 27.f4 a4 28.Kf2 Rc5 29.e4 a3 30.e6 Kf8 31.Ne3 b4 32.Bb3 Rc3 33.e7+ Ke8 34.Ba4+ Kxe7 35.Nd5+ Kf8 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bf6+/d6/b4 2.N(x)f6#; 1…Bc5/d8 2.R(x)c5#; 1…e5 2.Qf7#; 1…g3 2.Qxf3#; 1…Ne5 2.Nf4#; 1…N3d4/xh2 2.R(x)d4#; 1…Rxh2 2.e4#.
