Airthings Masters Finals: Radjabov wins first set

by Klaus Besenthal
1/3/2021 – The first day of the Airthings Masters finals was played on Saturday. Teimour Radjabov won the last of the four games against Levon Aronian to bag the first ‘set’. In the match for third place, everything is still tied, as Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew their first four-game encounter. | Photo: FIDE

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Airthings Masters

Finals - Radjabov 2½ : 1½ Aronian 

The mini-match started with three draws, with an interesting final position in the second of these games:

 
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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 Up to this point, it has all been played once already. h6 Here: 9...Ng8 10.f4 Nf6 11.fxe5 dxe5 12.h6 Be6 13.hxg7 Bxg7 14.Bg5 Nd7 15.Nd2 h5 16.Qe1 f6 17.Bh4 0-0-0 18.Kh1 Bh6 19.Nc4 Bf4 20.b4 Bxc4 21.dxc4 Rhg8 22.Nf3 cxb4 23.Qxb4 Be3 24.Rab1 a5 25.Qe7 Rde8 26.Qh7 Nc5 27.Qf5+ Qd7 28.Bxf6 Qxf5 29.exf5 Nd7 30.Rbe1 Nxf6 31.Rxe3 Ng4 32.Re4 Rgf8 33.Ne1 Nh6 34.f6 Ng4 35.Nd3 Nxf6 36.Rxe5 Ng4 37.Rxf8 Rxf8 38.Re1 Rd8 39.Re4 Kc7 40.g3 Rf8 41.Kg2 Rf5 42.Nf4 Kd6 43.Nxh5 Rxh5 44.Rxg4 Kc5 45.a3 a4 46.Re4 Rh8 47.g4 Rd8 48.g5 Rd2+ 49.Kf3 Rxc2 50.g6 Rc3+ 1-0 (50) Caruana,F (2835) -Carlsen,M (2863) Lichess.org INT 2020 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 g5 12.Bd2 12.hxg6 Nxg6 13.Bd2 was also good. 12...Bg7 13.Bc3 A well-known manoeuvre: White opposes the g7-bishop with his own bishop. 0-0 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qe1 Be6 16.Qc3+ And now White replaces the exchanged bishop with the queen. This is a good queenside square. Kh7 16...f6 was also playable, but Black has other plans with this pawn. 17.Nd2 f5 18.Rae1 f4 More precise was 18...Qd7! and now 19.e5 which can be responded by Nd5! Black has a good position, and c3 suddenly does not seem to be such a good square for the queen (the square can now be attacked). 19.e5 d5 In case of... 19...Nd5 20.exd6! 20.Qxc5 Qb6 21.Nb3 Kg7 22.Rf2 Rae8 23.Nd4 Nf5 24.Qxb6 axb6 25.Nxc6 Rc8 26.Nb4 d4!
An unusual, interesting position: Black is two pawns down and the queens are already exchanged, but Black has more than enough compensation. Especially given the fact that the e5 and h5-pawns could soon fall. 27.Nf1 Rc5 28.Nd2 Ne3 29.Nf3 Rd8 30.a3 Ng4 31.Rfe2 Ne3 32.Rf2 Ng4 33.Rfe2 Ne3 34.Rf2 White cannot make anything out of his material advantage.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2781Radjabov,T2765½–½2021Airthings Masters KO 20203.1

Would we see a decisive result in the fourth game? Yes! As Black, Radjabov played solidly and suffered from a lack of space when Aronian lost a pawn in unfortunate circumstances. It was worth seeing how Radjabov then calmly extended his solid position into a win:

 
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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
Aronian's 15th move was the first new move in this well-known variation. 15...Nc6 16.Bf4 Nd4 17.Kf2 More straightforward and better was 17.e6! as after f6 18.Nf7 Bxf7 19.exf7 Nxc2 20.Rac1 Nd4 21.Kf2 White has a whole range of active options. In some variations he can even sacrifice an exchange on d4 and then place the knight on e6. 17...h6! 18.Nf3 Nxc2 19.Rac1 Nb4
Now White does not have sufficient compensation for the pawn. Any further opening of the position would also help the black bishop pair to be more effective. 20.a3 Nc6 21.Nd5 Ne7 22.Ne3 Nc6 23.f6?!
Weiß will nicht passiv ausharren, doch dieser Zug opens up perspectives, especially for the e8-bishop. 23...Bd7 But the best was 23...g5 24.Bh2 Nd8 and the knight would also have felt at home on e6. 24.b4 g5 25.Bg3 Be6 26.Rd3 Kb7 27.Rdc3 Rd8 28.Nf5 a5 29.b5 Na7 30.a4 c6 31.bxc6+ Nxc6
Black has a great advantage. 32.Ke2 Nb4 33.Rd1 Rxd1 34.Kxd1 Nd5 35.Ra3 c4 36.Nd6+ Bxd6 37.exd6 Rd8 Now Black also brings his worst piece into play - good things sometimes take time. 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.Rxc4 Rxd6 48.Kb2 Rd3
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2781Radjabov,T27650–12021Airthings Masters KO 20203.1

So the first set goes to Radjabov. On Sunday, Aronian will be under pressure to win. Such a situation has been a regular occurrence in this tournament — it is definitely good to create tension, but perhaps less so for the quality of the games.

Match for 3rd place - Dubov 2 : 2 Vachier-Lagrave 

In the first two games Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was outplayed by Daniil Dubov. This is how game 2 went, for example:

 
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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
This advance is standard for this type of position. It leaves White with a choice between two options. 10.exd5 10.e5 is roughly equivalent, but of course results in a completely different game. 10...Nxd5 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Bd6 13.Ng5 Qe7 Also considered was 13...h6 14.Qh5 0-0 14.Rb1 b5 15.Qh5 Rc8 16.Bd2 Maybe here 16.Rb3 was a tad better. After Kf8 there would follow 17.Ra3! even if, in the end, not too much would have been achieved. 16...g6 16...h6 17.Nxe6 Bxe6 18.Rxe6 Qxe6 19.Re1= The game is balanced, but the variation shows that the white queen on h5 causes some problems for his opponent. 17.Qh6 This situation is unpleasant for Black, even if the position is quite tenable. Bc6 18.a4 Kd7?! But after this move Black is finally somewhat worse. After 18...Qf6! 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ne4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Qf5 a very similar position arises as in the game, but here the b5-pawn would have been covered. If now 22.Rbe1 there would come Bf8 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ne4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Qf6 After 21...Rb8 22.Rbe1 Qf6 23.Bf4! Bf8? 24.Qh3 The motifs in the game and in the variation are similar, but small details make a big difference! 22.Rxb5 Rb8 23.Rxb8 Rxb8 24.Re1 Qf5 25.Qe3
The game enters a new phase. With the moving extra pawn and the much more secure king position, Dubov holds all the aces. 25...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
35...Qb5 Black missed 35...e5! The move would probably not have changed the result, but White's plans would have been disturbed once more. 36.Qa2 Qd3 37.Qa4+ Kc8 38.Qe8+ Kb7 39.Qxe6 Qxc3 40.d5 Qc2 41.h4
There is nothing else to do. 41...Qe4 42.Qd7 Qb1+ 43.Kh2
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dubov,D2699Vachier Lagrave,M27841–02021Airthings Masters KO 20203.1

In the third game Dubov seemed to be completely safe and could have ended the day with a draw, but then he entered into a bad endgame and lost. So the players did play a fourth game. 

And Vachier-Lagrave managed to mount a comeback. When the dust had settled in the fourth game, the Frenchman had two bishops and an extra pawn against Dubov’s rook and knight. Normally this material distribution would give about a half-point advantage for the player with the rook, but in this case Vachier-Lagrave had two passed pawns. Once again Dubov was faced with a difficult endgame to defend, and once again he failed to keep the balance. The duel for third place is thus tied after the first day.

All games

 
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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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