Teimour Radjabov completed a sweep of his two-set finals match against Levon Aronian, winning the second set, 1½-½, to wrap up the championship of the Airthings Masters (redubbed in the last round as Meltwater Masters after a change of major sponsor in the final day) which ended Jan. 3 at the chess24.com server.
Besides the $60,000 top purse, the victory also meant Radjabov became the first qualifier of the $1.5-million Champions Chess Tour Grand Finals slated in September. Aronian settled for the $40,000 runner-up prize.
Meanwhile, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took third place, beating Daniil Dubov, 3-1, in the second set to pocket $25,000. The luckless Dubov, who got the better of Vachier-Lagrave in practically all of their games only to misplay his advantages each time, took home the $15,000 fourth place purse.
The next regular tournament of the Champions Chess Tour will be on Feb. 6, although the complete cast of the event is yet to be announced.
Radjabov, T (2765)-Aronian, L (2781) [D80]
chess24.com (3.22) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bf4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.e3 Nc6 8.cxd5 Qxd5 9.Qf3 Qd7 10.Bb5 a6 11.Bxc6 Qxc6 12.Qxc6+ bxc6 13.Nf3 Bg7 14.Ne5 Bf5 15.f3 Bxe5 16.Bxe5 f6 17.Bg3 Bd3 18.Rd1 c4 19.Rd2 Kf7 20.Rb2 Rhd8 21.e4 c5 22.dxc5 Rac8 23.Bf2 f5 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Be3 f4 26.Bxf4 Rxc5 27.Kf2 Rb5 28.Rxb5 axb5 29.a3 Ra8 30.Ra1 Ra6 31.g4 Ke6 32.h4 Kd5 33.h5 e5 34.Be3 Ra8 35.Bg5 Ke6 36.Bh4 Kd5 37.Ke3 Ke6 38.Ra2 Kd5 39.Be7 Ke6 40.Bb4 h6 41.Rb2 Bh7 42.Kf2 Bd3 43.Bc5 Kd5 44.Be3 Kc6 45.Ra2 e4 46.Bxh6 exf3 47.Kxf3 b4 48.cxb4 c3 49.Ke3 Bb1 50.Ra1 c2 51.Kf3 Kb5 52.a4+ Kxb4 53.a5 Ra6 54.Bc1 Rf6+ 55.Kg2 Rd6 56.a6 Rd1 57.Be3 Rd3 58.Bc1 Rd1 59.Bh6 Rd6 60.a7 Rxh6 61.a8Q c1Q 62.Rxb1+ 1-0
Dubov, D (2702)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B51]
chess24.com (3.21) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 b5 7.a4 Bb7 8.axb5 axb5 9.Rxa8 Qxa8 10.Na3 Bxe4 11.Bxe4 Nxe4 12.Nxb5 Qb7 13.c4 e6 14.d3 Nef6 15.d4 Be7 16.d5 e5 17.Nh4 g6 18.Bh6 Bf8 19.f4 e4 20.Qb3 Qb8 21.Bxf8 Kxf8 22.Qg3 Nh5 23.Qc3 Rg8 24.g4 Nhf6 25.g5 Nxd5 26.Qd2 Nb4 27.f5 Nd3 28.f6 h6 29.gxh6 Rh8 30.Qg5 N7e5 31.Ra1 Kg8 32.Ra7 Qf8 33.Nc7 Rxh6 34.Ra8 Qxa8 35.Qxh6 Qa1+ 36.Kg2 Qxb2+ 37.Kh3 Nf2+ 38.Kg3 Qc3+ 39.Kg2 Qh3+ 40.Kg1 Qxh2+ 41.Kxh2 Nfg4+ 42.Kg3 Nxh6 43.Kf4 Nf5 44.Nxf5 gxf5 45.Nd5 Nxc4 46.Kxf5 e3 47.Nf4 d5 48.Kg4 d4 49.Kf3 Nd2+ 50.Ke2 Ne4 0-1
Dubov, D (2702)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B52]
chess24.com (3.23) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.Be3 Rc8 11.b3 Ng4 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 Nc6 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Qd2 g5 16.Bg3 Qe6 17.Rac1 Rd8 18.h3 Ne5 19.Qe2 Ng6 20.Rfe1 Be5 21.Nd1 Bxg3 22.fxg3 Qe5 23.Ne3 e6 24.Qf2 h5 25.Rcd1 Qh8 26.Rd2 Rd7 27.Red1 Rad8 28.c5 d5 29.Nc4 h4 30.Nd6 hxg3 31.Qxg3 Qh4 32.Qc3 g4 33.exd5 cxd5 34.Rd4 Qh8 35.hxg4 Qe5 36.Re1 Qg7 37.b4 Rxd6 38.cxd6 Rxd6 39.b5 a6 40.a4 axb5 41.axb5 Rb6 42.Rb1 Qe5 43.Qd2 Kg7 44.Qf2 Qf6 45.Ra4 Qxf2+ 46.Kxf2 Ne5 47.Ke3 Rb7 48.Kd4 Nd7 49.Ra6 Kf6 50.Rc6 Ke7 51.g5 Nb8 52.Kc5 Nd7+ 53.Kb4 Ne5 54.Ra6 Nd3+ 55.Ka5 Ne5 56.b6 Nc6+ 57.Kb5 Kd6 58.Ra8 e5 59.Rc1 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-Dubov, D (2702) [C78]
chess24.com (3.24) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.a4 Rb8 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Re1 Ne7 13.Bc2 0-0 14.Nbd2 Ng6 15.Nf1 Re8 16.Ng3 exd4 17.cxd4 c5 18.d5 c4 19.b4 cxb3 20.Bxb3 Nd7 21.Nf5 Nde5 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.Rxe3 Bc8 24.N3d4 Qf6 25.Rc1 Bxf5 26.exf5 Nh4 27.Nc6 Nxf5 28.Rxe5 dxe5 29.Nxb8 Rxb8 30.Rc6 Qd8 31.d6 Nd4 32.Rxa6 b4 33.Ra7 Kh8 34.Rxf7 Nxb3 35.Qxb3 Qxd6 36.Qc4 h6 37.a6 b3 38.Rb7 Ra8 39.a7 b2 40.Qb3 Qd2 41.Rb8+ Kh7 42.Qg8+ Kg6 43.Qe6+ Kg5 44.Qxe5+ Kg6 45.Qe6+ Kg5 46.Rb5+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ra8, Sd6 2.Qd5#; 1…Bxc6 2.Sxc6#; 1…Rd3 2.Se6#./PN
