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Teimour Radjabov won the last game of Day 1 of the Airthings Masters final to clinch the first set and leave Levon Aronian needing to win Sunday’s quick game to force a $ 60,000 title tiebreaker. The day started with three tense draws before Levon lived to regret turning down a tie by replay in Game 4. In the match for third place we saw Daniil Dubov in all his Jekyll and Hyde glory. He won two good games first, but then, with just a draw to clinch the set, he played like the player who needed to win on demand and allowed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to level the scores.
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And here is the live commentary of the day from Tania Sachdev and Peter Leko.
And from Kaja Snare, Jovanka Houska and David Howell.
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Teimour Radjabov 2.5: 1.5 Levon Aronian
The first game set the tone for the day. There was a long, theoretical line: the first 20 moves had been played before, but instead of fading like these games usually do, it was followed by a tense showdown. Levon was running out of time when he forced the exchange of queens (threatens to exchange queens and win a piece with Rc1 +, or Qc1 + if the white queen moves) at the cost of a pawn.
Teimour Radjabov took the glove with 32.Bxa6, but a few moves later 35.g4 !? He saw Black fully equalize, with an agreed draw on move 45.
It was Levon’s turn to push the next game, which started by following an Anand-Gelfand Sicilian game from last year’s chess24 Legends of Chess event.
It was only on move 16 that the players finally veered off when Teimour spun out of control with 16… Kh7! instead of blocking Gelfand’s 16… f6 – but, feeling that he was being positionally outgunned, he soon pushed his f-pawn f5 and f4 instead. I was very worried after playing 25… Rc8.
He commented:
I think that in a game I was completely lost, or something very similar at least, in the game in Siciliana. I think he was really having problems there, this Nb3, I also think that at some point when I played Rc8 he had this Na7, Nb5, it seemed very bad to me, because I also lost some pawns and the position. it was really horrible.
26.Na7! Ra8 27.Nb5! Rxa2 28.c3! seems to give White a dream position, while in the game after 26.Nb4 d4! Soon it was Black who took over. In fact, Teimour may have played in the final position, but given how close he felt he had come to disaster, it was understandable that he decided not to risk his luck.
In the third game, Levon threw the first 26 moves with the black pieces, so he had almost 19 minutes after starting with 15. He made good use of that time to put pressure on Teimour, who felt he had played poorly in his game. position, but balance was never seriously disturbed before a 49-move tie was reached.
The last game of the day proved once again that the Berlin Defense can be anything but boring, with the game following an old line that Peter Leko remembered from the days when he was an active player.
Levon would later regret:
Of course I am sad. I remembered that this line is very dangerous to play for Black, but I did not remember why or how I am supposed to continue, so it is a mistake on my part in my preparation.
However, what followed felt like self-inflicted punishment on Levon’s part, as on move 20, Teimour’s knight moves hinted at a willingness to repeat moves for a draw that would have ended the first day of the final in a 2: 2 tie. He confirmed that later:
In the last one I actually played this Ne7-Nc6, but he didn’t want to repeat, and then went for 23.f6, which was very surprising, because f6, there was no threat, I don’t know what exactly was lost there.
It was a move that seemed destined to wreak havoc, and Peter Leko was certainly not sure what was happening …
… But Teimour had brilliantly handled such moves from Dubov in the previous round and stated that, “after that I didn’t see any opportunity for him at all”. 23… Bd7 24.b4 g5! 25.Bg3 Be6 it simply left Black with an advantage pawn with excellent squares for his pieces. Black was two pawns up when Levon resigned on move 48.
It was a perfect start for Teimour, but he felt cautious:
I’m not celebrating it in advance, because I know what it is. I also played Wesley, the other event, and was pretty happy for the first day [Radjabov scored
two fine wins to clinch the first set 2.5:0.5 in the quarterfinals of the
Skilling Open] and then the second one everything was really different.
Meanwhile, Levon needs to win the 4-game mini-game on Sunday to lead the final to the playoffs. You will first have to recover from the blow of losing on day 1.
I’ll try to play better I guess so as not to miss opportunities like I did today, so that’s the plan!
Dubov 2: 2 MVL
After knocking out World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Daniil Dubov had managed to score just two draws and suffer four defeats in the semifinal against Radjabov. However, when the match for third place began, we could see Dubov in his prime, as he managed to find the perfect moment for a trade sacrifice against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. It was such a natural sacrifice that it could be argued if it was a sacrifice at all.
Leko agreed and felt that the game was essentially over, which turned out to be the case. Daniil went on to convert with poise.
He was serious, and went on to win a pawn in the next game and converted without a hitch. A 2: 0 advantage in these 4-game matches is almost always decisive, as the leading player only needs a draw in the next two games … but it’s fair to say that drawing on demand in chess matches is not Daniil’s superpower.
In Game 3, playing with the black pieces, he made a sacrifice on move 9.
When Maxime recovered from the shock, he probably reasoned that this was far from the worst turn of events for a game where you have to win. Dubov did draw at some point, but his position remained more difficult to play and ultimately the Frenchman did not. I continued to get a 51-move win.
That still left Daniil with one more game with the white pieces and only needing a draw, but this time we got chaos in a 3.Bb5 + Sicilian. It was difficult to criticize Daniil’s opening too much, as on move 14 he was fully won. However, a decision transformed the game.
There are many tempting options here for White, but it turns out that the most powerful move is simply to withdraw the attacked knight to e3, when White retains all his trumps and the black king is still in serious trouble. Removing pieces is not the way Dubov plays chess, however, and instead came up with the brilliant yet reckless 18.Qf3!?! dxc4 19.Bxf6 gxf6 (19… Rd7! It would have spoiled the plan) 20.Ra8 + Kc7 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Qxf6 +, forking king and rook, only to find later 22… Rd7 23.Qxh8 Be7 that things were not so simple.
Objectively, White is better, but the material is roughly the same and Black’s bishop pair is a force to be reckoned with. Daniil was still the favorite to get at least the draw he needed, but Maxime played what followed brilliantly, with 38… Bc1! sealing White’s fate.
White is an exchange for a pawn, but the white rook is a helpless spectator. Ten moves later it was over, with Maxime’s h-pawn impossible to stop.
So the match for third place is level, and both players have something to celebrate after day one. Levon Aronian, meanwhile, must do everything he can to beat Teimour Radjabov and bring his end to the blitz and potentially Armageddon. It is sure to be fascinating to watch.
Tune in from 15:00 CET (9am ET) Sunday live here on chess24!
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