Sports

Airthings Masters: Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave win q’final opening games

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated their respective opponents in the first day of the quarterfinal knockout matches of the Airthings Masters being played at the chess24.com server.

In the first set of the two-set, four-game each set quarterfinals, Aronian scored against Hikaru Nakamura, 2½-1½, on one win and three draws while Vachier-Lagrave smashed an adventurous but rather erratic Wesley So, 3-1, on two wins and two draws.

The other two quarterfinal matches ended in 2-2 scores. Magnus Carlsen traded wins and draws with Daniil Dubov for a 2-2 count, while Ian Nepomniachtchi and Teimour Radjabov drew all their four games for a similar 2-2 count.

Aronian and vachier-Lagrave now need only to draw the second set of their quarterfinal matches to advance to the semifinals, while Nakamura and So – teammates at Team USA – are in a must-win situation to force a play-off that consists of 2 blitz games, followed by an Armageddon game if necessary.

Carlsen, M (2862)-Dubov, D (2702) [C77]

chess24.com (1.11) 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Be6 11.Nbd2 Nf4 12.d4 exd4 13.Ne4 Bd6 14.cxd4 Bxb3 15.Qxb3 Re8 16.Bxf4 Bxf4 17.Rad1 Qd7 18.Nc5 Qf5 19.Nxa6 Bd6 20.Nc5 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Nxd4 22.Nxd4 Qxc5 23.Nxb5 Be5 24.Nc3 Bxc3 25.bxc3 g6 26.a4 Rd8 27.Qc2 Kg7 28.g3 Rd6 29.Re3 Qd5 30.Qe4 Qxe4 31.Rxe4 Rc6 32.a5 Rxc3 33.Ra4 Rb3 34.a6 Rb8 35.Kf1 Kf6 36.Ke2 Ke6 37.Kd3 Kd5 38.Rd4+ Kc6 39.Rc4+ Kd6 40.Rf4 f5 41.Rd4+ Kc6 42.Rc4+ Kd6 43.Kd4 Ra8 44.Ra4 Kc6 45.Ra2 Kb6 46.Kd5 Rd8+ 47.Ke6 Ra8 48.Rb2+ Kxa6 49.Kd5 Re8 50.Kc6 Re6+ 51.Kxc7 f4 52.Kd7 Re1 53.g4 Rh1 54.Kc6 Ka5 55.Kc5 Ka4 56.Rb4+ Ka3 57.Rxf4 Rxh2 58.Rf7 Kb3 59.f4 Kc3 60.f5 gxf5 61.gxf5 Ra2 62.Kd5 Ra5+ 63.Ke4 Ra4+ 64.Ke5 h5 65.Rh7 h4 66.f6 Ra5+ 67.Ke6 Ra6+ 68.Kf5 Ra5+ 69.Kg6 Ra4 70.f7 Rg4+ 71.Kf5 Rg1 72.Rxh4 1-0

So, Wesley (2770)-Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2784) [B90]

chess24.com (1.12) 2020

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Bg7 12.h3 Ne5 13.Nf5 Bxf5 14.exf5 Nbc6 15.Nd5 e6 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Ne3 Qa5+ 18.c3 Nf3+ 19.gxf3 Bxc3+ 20.bxc3 Qxc3+ 21.Qd2 Qxa1+ 22.Nd1 Qf6 23.Bg2 Rd8 24.f4 Nd4 25.Ne3 gxf4 26.Ng4 Qf5 27.Qxd4 Qb1+ 28.Ke2 Qxa2+ 29.Kf3 Qb3+ 30.Ne3 Rf8 31.Bh4 e5 32.Qe4 fxe3+ 33.Kg3 exf2+ 34.Kh2 f1N+ 35.Bxf1 Rc8 36.Bg2 Rg8 37.Rg1 Rg7 38.Bf6 Rf7 39.Qg4 Rc2 40.Qg8+ Kd7 41.Bh4 Rf3 42.Qd8+ Kc6 43.Bg3 Qe6 44.Rb1 Rxg2+ 45.Kxg2 Rxg3+ 0-1

Aronian, L (2781)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D02]

chess24.com (1.12) 2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bb5+ Nbd7 6.c3 0-0 7.Nbd2 Qe7 8.Ne5 Ne4 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Qc2 f5 11.Bxd7 Bxd7 12.h4 Bb5 13.a4 Bxe5 14.Bxe5 Bd3 15.Qb3 b6 16.f4 h5 17.Kf2 Kh7 18.Rh3 g6 19.Rg3 c5 20.Rg5 Kh6 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.c4 Rf7 23.Qc3 Qb7 24.a5 Rc8 25.b3 Qc6 26.Rh1 Rb7 27.Rh3 Rg8 28.Rhg3 Kh7 29.Qc1 Qe8 30.Qd1 Rd7 31.Rxg6 Qxg6 32.Rxg6 Kxg6 33.Kg1 a6 34.Kh2 Rb7 35.Qa1 Rxb3 36.Qa4 Rb1 37.Qd7 Bxc4 38.Qe7 Rbb8 1-0

Carlsen, M (2862)-Dubov, Daniil (2702) [A15]

chess24.com (1.13) 2020

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3 a6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.g3 Nc6 8.Bg2 c4 9.0-0 Bb4 10.Ne5 0-0 11.Bd2 Re8 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.b3 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 Ne4 15.Rc1 a5 16.bxc4 Ba6 17.f3 Nxc3 18.Rxc3 Bxc4 19.Rf2 Qg5 20.Qc1 h5 21.Bf1 Bxf1 22.Kxf1 Rab8 23.Rxc6 h4 24.Kg2 Rxe3 25.Rc8+ Rxc8 26.Qxc8+ Kh7 27.Qd7 f6 28.Qb5 Qf5 29.g4 h3+ 30.Kg3 Qe4 31.Qxa5 f5 32.gxf5 Qxf5 33.Qb5 Re6 34.Re2 Rg6+ 35.Kf2 Qf4 36.Qb1 Kh6 37.Qd3 Qxh2+ 38.Ke3 Re6+ 0-1

So, Wesley (2770)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B90]

chess24.com (1.14) 2020

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.h3 e5 9.Nb3 Be6 10.Be3 Nbd7 11.g4 h6 12.f4 exf4 13.Bxf4 Nh5 14.Be3 Ng3 15.Rh2 Nxf1 16.Kxf1 h5 17.Nd4 hxg4 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxg4 Qf6+ 20.Ke2 Ne5 21.Qg3 Qf7 22.Rf1 Qh5+ 23.Kd2 Be7 24.Kc1 Bf6 25.Kb1 Nc4 26.Bf4 0-0 27.Rg2 Rf7 28.Rfg1 Bd4 29.Re1 Rc8 30.Nd1 Rcf8 31.Qd3 Qc5 32.c3 Be5 33.Bh6 Rf3 34.Qe2 R8f7 35.Reg1 Rxh3 36.Bc1 Rh2 37.Rxh2 Qxg1 38.Rh3 b5 39.Qh5 g6 40.Qe2 Rf1 41.Rd3 Re1 42.Qf3 Qf1 0-1

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