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GM Teimour Radjabov took the lead in the Airthings Masters final, winning one game and drawing three against GM Levon Aronian on Saturday. In the fight for third place, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave tied the opener with GM Daniil Dubov despite starting with two losses.
Aronian vs. Radjabov 1.5-2.5
The match saw incredible depth of preparation on the part of both players. Already in the first game, for 29 (!) Moves they followed a correspondence game before drawing on move 45.
The following saw a current line in the Rossolimo Sicilian, with 16 theory movements. Radjabov was not fully up to the task there and lost a healthy pawn for what appeared to be very little compensation.
Radjabov said he had a “terrible” position that was “almost lost”, although it might not have been. that bad:
After another draw along the same lines of the Queen’s Gambit as in game one, Radjabov secured the match by winning game four, or rather, Aronian lost it. The Armenian GM avoided repeating a move, but the move he played instead (23.f6) just wasn’t good.
It was a surprise for Radjabov: “There was no threat. I don’t know what exactly got lost there. After that, I didn’t see any opportunity for him.”
Afterwards, Radjabov shared some thoughts on his preparation:
“These days I mostly work on my own or with GM Vladimir Chuchelov from time to time. But certainly here, you don’t have that much time, you also have to go back to your normal form, not only after New Years Eve celebrations but Also after other games. You have to stay in shape and it’s very hard because you leave every day without rest and for old people like me it is not so easy to maintain tension. And also the rivals are very strong! “
You have to be in shape and it is very hard because it goes every day without rest and for older people like me it is not so easy to maintain tension.
—Teimour Radjabov
Where other players could have refrained from being interviewed, Aronian commented, referring to game four: “Of course I am upset. I remembered that this line is very dangerous for Black, but I don’t remember why or how I am supposed to continue. It is a mistake on my part, in my preparation. “
On the second day, he said, “I’ll try to play better, I guess, so I don’t miss opportunities like I did today. That’s the plan.”
Dubov vs. Vachier-Lagrave 2-2
In this event, players also play for third place. The first day saw MVL take hits and nearly go down by knockout before counterattacking in the third game. He was then on the ground for eight seconds in the fourth game, but got back to his feet. The jury could not pinpoint a winner: 2-2.
Dubov doesn’t just play risky openings. In the first game, he comfortably tied with Black and then was able to play a fairly standard exchange sacrifice which was nevertheless strong:
Needing only a draw, Dubov did not shy away from complications in the third game. He probably won’t repeat this 9 … Nxe4, but in the game it worked, as he finally tied. Then it went wrong anyway:
Being Dubov Dubov, the Russian GM again showed very entertaining chess in the fourth game, sacrificing his e-pawn on a 3.Bb5 + Sicilian. It basically took MVL by surprise, even though the same opening was played in the second game. There is simply not enough time between games to analyze and memorize everything correctly.
However, Dubov was unable to convert what was a winning attack, he still ended up with an extra exchange, but when he allowed the queen exchange his chances of winning were gone. The end was still a draw, but Vachier-Lagrave again managed to score the much-needed full point:
All games day 8
The Champions Chess Tour Airthings Masters runs from December 26 to January 3. The preliminary phase is a fast round robin of 12 players (15 | 10). The top eight players advance to a six-day knockout consisting of two days of four-game snap games, advancing to the blitz (5 | 3) and armageddon tiebreaks (White has five minutes, Black four without increment) only if the knockout match is tied after the second day. The prize pool is $ 200,000 with $ 60,000 for first place.
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