Teimour Radjabov defeated LevonAronian in the first set of their finals match, 2½-1½, to take the lead in their Airthings Masters championship round played at the chess24.com server. The victory meant the 34-year-old Azerbaijan grandmaster needs only to draw the second set to take the first of three major events of the $1.5-million Champions Chess Tour.
Aronian gave Radjabov a whale of a fight, but the latter was just too clever to be cornered. In game four, Aronian played aggressively, but Radjabov fended the former’s initiative to finally score the point and secure the set.
In the battle for third and fourth places, Daniil Dubov threw away an early 2-0 lead and allowed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to win the next two games for a 2-2 deadlock. The winning finalist will pocket the $60,000 top prize, and the losing finalist will take home $40,000. The third placer gets $25,000 while the fourth placer is awarded $15,000.
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-Dubov, D (2702) [C55]
chess24.com (3.11) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.a4 0-0 7.0-0 h6 8.h3 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Ne2 a5 11.Ng3 Qe8 12.c3 Qf7 13.Be3 Kh8 14.Nh2 d5 15.Qe2 Rad8 16.Rad1 Qg6 17.Nf3 Nd7 18.Kh2 Rf7 19.Qc2 Rdf8 20.Qb3 d4 21.Bc1 Nc5 22.Qc2 Rxf3 23.gxf3 Rxf3 24.Rg1 Qf7 25.Rg2 Bh4 26.Kg1 b6 27.Qe2 Nxa4 28.Nf5 Rxf2 29.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 30.Qxf2 exf5 31.exf5 dxc3 32.bxc3 Nxc3 33.Re1 Nd5 34.Qg2 Ndb4 35.Rf1 Nd4 36.Qa8+ Kh7 37.Qe4 Qf6 38.Bd2 Nbc2 39.h4 a4 40.h5 a3 41.Qg4 a2 42.Bc3 Qg5 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Radjabov, T (2765) [B30]
chess24.com (3.12) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3 Qc7 6.0-0 Ne7 7.h4 e5 8.h5 d6 9.Nh2 h6 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 g5 12.Bd2 Bg7 13.Bc3 0-0 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qe1 Be6 16.Qc3+ Kh7 17.Nd2 f5 18.Rae1 f4 19.e5 d5 20.Qxc5 Qb6 21.Nb3 Kg7 22.Rf2 Rae8 23.Nd4 Nf5 24.Qxb6 axb6 25.Nxc6 Rc8 26.Nb4 d4 27.Nf1 Rc5 28.Nd2 Ne3 29.Nf3 Rd8 30.a3 Ng4 31.Rfe2 Ne3 32.Rf2 Ng4 33.Rfe2 Ne3 34.Rf2 ½-½
Dubov, D (2702)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B51]
chess24.com (3.12) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bxd7+ Bxd7 6.c3 Nf6 7.Re1 e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Bd6 13.Ng5 Qe7 14.Rb1 b5 15.Qh5 Rc8 16.Bd2 g6 17.Qh6 Bc6 18.a4 Kd7 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ne4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Qf6 22.Rxb5 Rb8 23.Rxb8 Rxb8 24.Re1 Qf5 25.Qe3 Rb2 26.Rc1 Qa5 27.g3 Qa2 28.Rd1 Qa4 29.Qf3 f5 30.Bg5 Qa2 31.Bc1 Rb1 32.Be3 Rxd1+ 33.Qxd1 Qc4 34.Qa1 Bc7 35.Qa3 Qb5 36.Qa2 Qd3 37.Qa4+ Kc8 38.Qe8+ Kb7 39.Qxe6 Qxc3 40.d5 Qc2 41.h4 Qe4 42.Qd7 Qb1+ 43.Kh2 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Radjabov, T (2765) [C67]
chess24.com (3.14) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Bd7 10.Rd1 Kc8 11.g4 Ne7 12.Ng5 Be8 13.f4 c5 14.Nc3 b6 15.f5 Nc6 16.Bf4 Nd4 17.Kf2 h6 18.Nf3 Nxc2 19.Rac1 Nb4 20.a3 Nc6 21.Nd5 Ne7 22.Ne3 Nc6 23.f6 Bd7 24.b4 g5 25.Bg3 Be6 26.Rd3 Kb7 27.Rdc3 Rd8 28.Nf5 a5 29.b5 Na7 30.a4 c6 31.bxc6+ Nxc6 32.Ke2 Nb4 33.Rd1 Rxd1 34.Kxd1 Nd5 35.Ra3 c4 36.Nd6+ Bxd6 37.exd6 Rd8 38.Be5 Nb4 39.Bg3 Nd3 40.Nd4 Bd7 41.Kd2 Re8 42.Nc2 Nc5 43.Re3 Ne4+ 44.Kc1 Nxg3 45.Rxg3 Re6 46.Rc3 Rxf6 47.Rc4 Rd6 48.Kb2 Rd3 0-1
Dubov, D (2702)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B51]
chess24.com (3.14), 02.01.2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bxd7+ Bxd7 6.c3 Nf6 7.Re1 Bc6 8.d4 Bxe4 9.Bg5 Bg6 10.d5 Qd7 11.Nbd2 0-0-0 12.b4 e6 13.Nc4 Qb5 14.Nfd2 exd5 15.a4 Qc6 16.b5 axb5 17.axb5 Qxb5 18.Qf3 dxc4 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Ra8+ Kc7 21.Rxd8 Kxd8 22.Qxf6+ Kd7 23.Qxh8 Be7 24.Nf1 Qb6 25.Qa8 Qa6 26.Qh8 b5 27.Ne3 Qc8 28.Qxc8+ Kxc8 29.Nxc4 Kd8 30.Na3 b4 31.cxb4 cxb4 32.Nc4 Kd7 33.f3 b3 34.Kf2 Bf6 35.Nd2 b2 36.Ne4 Bxe4 37.fxe4 Bg5 38.Rb1 Bc1 39.Ke2 Ke6 40.Kd3 Ke5 41.g3 h5 42.h3 f6 43.h4 f5 44.exf5 Kxf5 45.Kd4 Kg4 46.Kd5 Kxg3 47.Kd6 Kh4 48.Ke5 Kg3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se6 2.Sd7#; 1…Sxe7 2.Qxe7#; 1…Qg7 2.Qxg7#; 1…Qxh6 2.Sxg8#; 1…Qg6 2.Rxg6#; 1…e4 2.Bb2#./PN
