[ad_1]
by Johannes Fischer
12/28/2020 – The third and final day of the Airthings Masters preliminary tournament saw many exciting games and a close fight for the top eight places that secured qualification for the knockout stage. At the end and after a close tiebreak Carlsen, So, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, Aronian, Dubov and Vachier-Lagrave qualified. | Photo:
ChessBase 16 – Mega Package Edition 2021
Your key to fresh ideas, accurate analysis, and targeted training!
Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the fan next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
Plus…
Masters of Airthings, Day 3
The first two days of the Airthings Masters saw many draws and a cautious approach on the part of most players, but the third day of the preliminary tournament was dramatic as players at the bottom of the table needed to take risks to finish in the top. eight.
Round 9
Results
Daniil Dubov had a good chance of qualifying with safe play, but stayed true to his usual risky style, which backfired in round 9 against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had been fighting in the first two days of the preliminary, but in their direct encounter in the ninth round Giri achieved an important victory.
After this victory, Giri could hope to qualify again, while “MVL” needed to start winning to catch up again.
The first to qualify was Hikaru Nakamura – he defeated David Anton in round 9 and at 5½ / 9 took the lead in the tournament.
Ranking after round 9
Round 10
Result Round 10
Magnus Carlsen started the preliminary with eight draws and a win, but in the 10th round he scored his second win, against Nakamura, who made a mistake in a tied final.
Here Nakamura played 50 … Bd5? (50 … g4 should lead to a draw) but then 51.Rd7 Ke6 52.Rd8 c4 53.a6 c3 54.Rxd5 had to resign. After 54 … Kxd5 55.a7 c2 56.a8Q + White queens with check. 1–0
Meanwhile, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave desperately played for a win against Teimour Radjabov, but in the end, and after a fascinating game, he was lucky to draw.
Positions after round 10
Round 11
Result round 11
The last and final round of the preliminary was particularly dramatic. Dubov once again took a big risk with Black against Wesley So, but this failed again when So responded with a beautiful combination:
In this position so played 31.Re8! Black now tried 31 … Ba7 (after 31 … fxg5 White wins with 32.Qa8) but after 32.Qd7 h6 33.Qc8 Rxe8 34.Qxe8 + Kh7 35.Bxf6 had to resign. 1–0
With this victory, So finished the tournament with 6½ / 11 and shared first with Carlsen and Nakamura. However, Carlsen had the best tie-break and won the preliminary. So it’s second, Nakamura third.
But in the end, Dubov was rewarded for his daring play because in the last round everything worked out in his favor: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to win a theoretically tied rook final against Alexander Grischuk, Pentala Harikrishna drew against Radjabov and Giri lost against Nakamura, who led to a four-way tie for places seven to ten.
In the event of a tie, the direct results would decide, after that, the number of wins. At 2.0 / 3, Vachier-Lagrave had the best direct results against the other three players at 5.0 / 11 (Grischuk, Harikrishna and Dubov) and thus qualified for the knockout phase. Dubov and Harikrishna were 1½ / 3, but while Dubov had won two games, Harikrishna didn’t win a single one, so Dubov made it to the knockout stage.
Final ranking after round 11
