LEVON Aronian won the preliminary stage of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid, which ended June 28 at the chess24.com server and led seven other qualifiers to the knockout quarterfinals slated today.
Besides Aronian, the others who advanced to the quarterfinal knockouts are Vladislav Artemiev, Liren Ding, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anish Giri, and, surprisingly, 17-year old Arjun Erigaisi of India. Failing the cut were Peter Svidler, Aliresa Firouzja, (who missed the cut because of an inferior tiebreak quotient), and Daniil Dubov.
Wesley drew all of his final five games to wound up tied with Carlsen at 4th to 5th places and, as a result, will meet the world champion in the quarterfinals. The other quarterfinal matchups will be Aronian versus the upstart Erigaisi, Artemiev versus Giri, and Ding versus Duda.
The final standings (preliminary): 1. Aronian, 10½; 2. Artemiev, 10; 3. Ding, 9½; 4-5. Carlsen, So, 9; 6-9. Duda, Giri, Erigaisi, Firouzja, 8; 10. Vidit, 7; 11-12. Svidler, Gukesh, 6½; 13. Dubov, 6; 14. Salem, 5½; 15. Adhiban, 5; 16. Hou, 3½.
Firouzja, A (2759)-Aronian, L (2781) [C27]
chess24.com (11.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Be7 6.Qxe5 0-0 7.d4 Nc6 8.Qf4 Na5 9.Bd5 Ne8 10.Bf3 Bb4 11.d5 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 b6 13.Ne2 Ba6 14.0-0 Qf6 15.Qa4 Nd6 16.Qxd7 Rae8 17.Be3 Nac4 18.Bd4 Ne5 19.Qh3 Nxf3+ 20.gxf3 Qg5+ 21.Kh1 Qxd5 22.Rg1 f6 23.Nf4 Qf5 24.Qh6 Rf7 25.Rg3 Qxc2 26.Nh5 Nf5 27.Nxf6+ Rxf6 28.Rxg7+ Ng7 29.Qf6 Qg6 30.Rg1 Qxg1 0-1
Salem, A.R. S (2682)-Ding, L (2799) [E24]
chess24.com (11.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 Nc6 7.e4 Na5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 d6 10.Bd3 Ba6 11.f4 Qd7 12.e5 Ng8 13.Qf3 Bb7 14.Qg4 f5 15.exf6 Nxf6 16.Bg6+ Kd8 17.Qe2 Nxc4 18.Nf3 Bd5 19.0-0 Kc8 20.a4 a5 21.Nd2 Qc6 22.Bd3 Nxd2 23.Qxd2 Bc4 24.Qe2 Bxd3 25.Qxd3 Nd5 26.c4 Nb4 27.Qe2 Kb7 28.Rfc1 Rhf8 29.Bg3 Rad8 30.Rc3 Rf5 31.Qxe6 Rf6 32.Qg4 Qe4 33.Qf3 Re8 34.Rd1 Rfe6 35.Bf2 Qxf3 36.Rxf3 Re2 37.f5 Ra2 38.d5 Ree2 39.Rf1 Nc2 40.Rg3 Re5 41.Rxg7 Rxf5 42.c5 bxc5 43.Rb1+ Nb4 44.Bg3 Rxd5 45.h4 Rxa4 46.Rf1 Ra2 47.Rf6 Kc6 48.Rxh6 a4 49.Rh8 Rd1+ 50.Kh2 Raa1 51.Kh3 a3 52.Ra8 a2 53.h5 Rd5 54.Ra7 Rh1+ 55.Kg4 a1Q 56.Rgxc7+ Kb5 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Dubov, D (2714) [D45]
chess24.com (12.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.e4 e5 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Bg5 exd4 13.Rxd4 Ne5 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Rd3 b5 17.Bb3 Bxh2+ 18.Kf1 Be5 19.Ne2 f5 20.f4 Bg7 21.e5 c5 22.Bd5 Rb8 23.Rc1 c4 24.b3 Qe7 25.bxc4 bxc4 26.Bxc4 Bb7 27.Rh3 Be4 28.Bd3 Rb4 29.a3 Bxd3 30.Qxd3 Re4 31.Qxa6 Rd8 32.Rc8 Bf8 33.Rg3+ Kh8 34.Rxd8 Qxd8 35.Rd3 Qh4 36.Qc8 Qh1+ 37.Kf2 Qh4+ 38.Rg3 Qh6 39.Qd8 Rc4 40.Rh3 Qg7 41.Nd4 Ra4 42.Nxf5 Qg8 43.Rxh7+ 1-0
Artemiev, V (2704)-Duda, J-K (2729) [D42]
chess24.com (12.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 b6 10.Qc2 h6 11.dxc5 Nxc3 12.Qxc3 bxc5 13.Rd1 Qb6 14.Qc2 Ba6 15.Bxa6 Qxa6 16.Bd2 Rfd8 17.Bc3 Rd5 18.Rxd5 exd5 19.Rd1 Rd8 20.Qb3 Qb6 21.Qa4 Bf8 22.h3 g6 23.Bf6 Rd6 24.Qf4 d4 25.exd4 Nxd4 26.Bxd4 cxd4 27.Rxd4 Rxd4 28.Qxd4 Qxd4 29.Nxd4 Bg7 30.Nc6 Bxb2 31.a4 a6 32.Kf1 f5 33.Ke2 Kf7 34.Kd3 Ke6 35.Nb4 g5 36.Nxa6 g4 37.Kc4 Bc1 38.Nc5+ Kd6 39.a5 Kc6 40.Nb3 gxh3 41.gxh3 Bg5 42.Nd4+ Kb7 43.Kb5 f4 44.a6+ Ka7 45.Nc6+ Ka8 46.f3 h5 47.Kc4 Bh4 48.Kd5 Bg3 49.Ke4 Bh2 50.Kf5 Bg3 51.Kg5 h4 52.Kg4 Bf2 53.Kf4 Be1 54.Ke4 Bg3 55.Kd5 Bh2 56.Kc4 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-Vidit, SG (2726) [D41]
chess24.com (15.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.e4 dxe4 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ng5 Be6 10.Nxe6+ fxe6 11.Bg5 Nc6 12.0-0-0+ Ke8 13.Bb5 Rc8 14.Kb1 Bb4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nxe4 f5 17.Ng5 Ke7 18.a3 Ba5 19.f4 h6 20.Nf3 Rhd8 21.Rxd8 Nxd8 22.Rd1 Rc7 23.Ne5 Nf7 24.Nc4 Bb6 25.Nxb6 axb6 26.Be2 Nd6 27.Rd3 Rc8 28.Rb3 Rg8 29.g3 h5 30.Rxb6 h4 31.Rb3 hxg3 32.hxg3 Kd7 33.Kc2 Kc7 34.Rc3+ Kb6 35.Re3 Kc7 36.Bd3 Kd7 37.Kc3 Rh8 38.a4 Rc8+ 39.Kd4 b6 40.b4 Ra8 41.Bc2 Rc8 42.Bb3 Ne4 43.Ke5 Rc6 44.Rd3+ Ke7 45.Kd4 Rd6+ 46.Ke3 Rxd3+ 47.Kxd3 Nxg3 48.a5 bxa5 49.bxa5 Kd6 50.a6 Kc7 51.Bxe6 Kb6 52.Bc4 Nh5 53.Ke3 Ka7 54.Be2 Ng3 55.Bf3 Nf1+ 56.Ke2 Nh2 57.Bh5 Kxa6 58.Kf2 Kb6 59.Kg2 Ng4 60.Bxg4 fxg4 61.Kg3 Kc7 62.Kxg4 Kd6 63.Kf5 Ke7 64.Kg6 Kf8 65.Kf6 Kg8 66.Ke7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ra1/d1/e1/f1/g1/h1 2.Bc3#; 1…Rxb2+ 2.Qxb2#; 1…Rc1 2.Bxc1#./PN
