With Magnus Carlsen already assured of the championship as early as Round 7, the focus of the ongoing Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final being played at the chess24.com server shifted to the battle for 2nd place now being contested by Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So.
Radjabov dislodged Wesley in second place after beating compatriot Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 2½-1½ in regulation in Round 8. And although Wesley also won over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, he only did so in the tiebreak match after they drew 2-2 in regulation. Radjabov earned 3 points for the victory, while Wesley only gained 1½.
The other Round 8 matches saw Levon Aronian crush Calrsen, 3-1, but this is anti-climactic – the defeat coming as it is after the world champion has already clinched the title. However, Aronian, who is behind Wesley by 2½ points in the overall standings, can still catch the Philippine-born grandmaster by winning his last match and Wesley losing his. Anish Giri also scored against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2½-1½, while Hikaru Nakamura won by tiebreak over Vladislav Artemiev.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Carlsen, 28½; 2. Radjabov, 24; 3. So, 23½; 4. Aronian, 21; 5. Nakamura, 18; 6-7. Artemiev, Giri, 14½; 8. Vachier-Lagrave, 13½; 9. Duda, 12; 10. Mamedyarov, 9½.
Aronian,L (2782)-Carlsen,M (2855) [B00]
chess24.com (8.1) 2021
1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c3 e6 5.Bd3 Nge7 6.Ne2 h5 7.Bg5 Qd7 8.h4 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Nf5 10.Nd2 Be7 11.Bxe7 Ncxe7 12.Nf3 0-0-0 13.a4 Ng6 14.g3 f6 15.b4 Kb8 16.0-0 Rhf8 17.Kh2 Qf7 18.Neg1 Nh6 19.Rae1 Ng4+ 20.Kg2 fxe5 21.dxe5 Qe8 22.Nh3 Rf5 23.Nhg5 N6xe5 24.Nxe5 Nxe5 25.Qd4 Nc6 26.Qd3 Rf6 27.b5 Na5 28.Qh7 e5 29.Qxg7 Rf5 30.Qh7 Rf8 31.f4 e4 32.f5 Qe5 33.f6 Qxc3 34.f7 Nc4 35.Ne6 Qd2+ 36.Kh3 Ne5 37.Nxf8 Nf3 38.Nd7+ Ka8 39.Qxh5 Nxe1 40.f8Q 1-0
Giri,A (2777)-Vachier-Lagrave,M (2763) [A33]
chess24.com (8.1) 2021
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Bd2 Rb8 10.e4 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Qxd1+ 12.Kxd1 f6 13.e5 Kf7 14.Bc4 Bb4 15.Kc2 Rd8 16.Rad1 Rxd1 17.Rxd1 Bxc3 18.Kxc3 Ke7 19.exf6+ gxf6 20.Rd3 Bd7 21.Rh3 Rh8 22.Rh6 e5 23.Bd3 Kf7 24.Rxh7+ Rxh7 25.Bxh7 f5 26.g4 fxg4 27.Kb4 Be6 28.a4 Kf6 29.Kc5 Bd5 30.b4 Bf3 31.Kd6 e4 32.a5 Bg2 33.a6 Kg5 34.Ke5 Bf1 35.Bxe4 Bxa6 36.Bxc6 Be2 37.Bg2 Kh4 38.Kd6 a6 39.Kc5 Bd3 40.Kb6 Be2 41.Ka7 Bd3 42.Bb7 Kh3 43.Bxa6 Be4 44.Be2 1-0
Artemiev,V (2699)-Nakamura,H(2736) [A07]
chess24.com (8.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Na3 Bg7 5.Nxc4 Nc6 6.d3 e5 7.Bd2 Be6 8.Bg2 Nge7 9.0-0 a5 10.Qc1 0-0 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Nf5 13.Qc1 Ncd4 14.Re1 Nxf3+ 15.Bxf3 Bxc4 16.Qxc4 c6 17.Qc3 Re8 18.e3 Qb6 19.Rab1 Nd6 20.Red1 Rad8 21.Bg2 Nb5 22.Qc2 Rd7 23.Rd2 Red8 24.Rbd1 Rd6 25.h4 h5 26.Qc4 Nc7 27.Qc3 Re8 28.d4 e4 29.a3 Nd5 30.Qc5 Qd8 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 g5 33.hxg5 Rg6 34.b5 Qxg5 35.bxc6 bxc6 36.Qa7 h4 37.Qd7 Rd8 38.Qh3 hxg3 39.Re1 f5 40.Qxg3 Qh5 41.Qh2 Qxh2+ 42.Kxh2 Kf7 43.Rh1 Rh8+ 44.Kg1 Rhg8 45.Rh7+ Kf8 46.Rb2 Rxg2+ 47.Kf1 R2g7 48.Rh5 Nxe3+ 49.Ke2 Nd5 50.Rxf5+ Ke7 51.Re5+ Kd6 52.Rc2 Re7 53.Rf5 e3 0-1
Mamedyarov,S (2762)-Radjabov,T (2763) [E60]
chess24.com (8.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.b3 dxc4 7.bxc4 c5 8.Bb2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.0-0 Ng4 11.e3 Ne5 12.Qe2 Nbc6 13.Na3 Bg4 14.f3 Bd7 15.f4 Ng4 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qb2+ Nf6 19.Qc3 Qc7 20.e4 Kg8 21.Nc2 e5 22.h3 Rae8 23.fxe5 Nh5 24.Rad1 Re7 25.Rd6 Rfe8 26.g4 Ng7 27.c5 Rxe5 28.Ne3 R5e7 29.Nf5 gxf5 30.gxf5 Re5 31.Qg3 Kh8 32.Rh6 Bxf5 33.exf5 Qe7 34.f6 Qxc5+ 35.Kh2 Ne6 36.Qh4 Ng5 37.Qf2 Qf8 38.Rh5 Ne4 39.Qh4 Rxh5 40.Qxh5 Qd6+ 41.Kg1 Ng3 42.Qd1 Qc5+ 43.Rf2 Rg8 44.Qe1 Qg5 45.Kh2 c5 46.Qc3 Ne4 0-1
So,Wesley (2778)-Duda,J-K (2756) [A34]
chess24.com (8.5) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nc3 Nc7 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Nc4 b5 11.Ne3 0-0 12.a4 b4 13.Ncd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Rc8 15.f4 exf4 16.gxf4 Bg4 17.h3 Bh5 18.f5 Bd6 19.Be3 Re8 20.f6 Be5 21.Qd2 gxf6 22.Kh1 Kh8 23.Bxc5 Rg8 24.e4 Bd4 25.Rac1 Bxc5 26.Rxc5 Qd6 27.Qf2 f5 28.Rfc1 fxe4 29.Qf6+ Qxf6 30.Nxf6 exd3 31.Rxh5 Rg7 32.Rxc6 Rd8 33.Rd5 Rgg8 34.Nxg8 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Re3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nc5 2.Nb6#; 1…e5 2.Qf7#; 1…Re5 2.Nf6#; 1…Qxg2 2.Qxg2#; 1…Qxe3 2.Nxe3#.
