Trapped knights
Levon Aronian has lost only one game so far in the Airthings Masters — he was defeated by David Anton in the last round of the preliminary stage, when he had already secured a spot in the knockout. He obtained a convincing victory over online-blitz specialist Hikaru Nakamura in the quarterfinals and is now ahead on the scoreboard in the semifinals against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, another rapid-play expert.
If the Armenian continues his run of good form on Friday, he will face either Teimour Radjabov or Daniil Dubov in the final of the Champions Chess Tour’s second competition. After eliminating Magnus Carlsen in a memorable match, Dubov needs to win on demand in the second mini-match against Radjabov, as the Azerbaijani kept a steady hand to get a 3:1 win in the first ‘set’ of the semifinal.
With an uncommon year coming to an end, we join Radjabov in wishing all our readers a happy new year. Luckily for us chess followers, from the very first day of 2021 we will get to see four of the best players in the world showing what they are capable of in an event whose existence we could not have predicted exactly a year ago!

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Aronian 3 : 1 Vachier-Lagrave
On more than one occasion Aronian has stated that the Berlin Defence provides plenty of fighting opportunities if the players are willing to enter unexplored territories, and he showed that is the case in both his games with black on Thursday.
In the first encounter of the day, the Armenian came out on top after the opening and saw his opponent voluntarily placing his knight on the rim on move 27:
On top level the Berlin Defense is a popular defensive weapon but it also offers Black good chances to win if White does not proceed precisely. On this DVD Victor Bologan shows what Black can and should do if White tries to avoid the main lines of the Berlin Defense.
Vachier-Lagrave vs. Aronian - Game 1
The engines consider Vachier-Lagrave’s 27.Nxa7 to be the best move in the position, but it is never easy for a human to play with a piece that far from the action and with almost no mobility — Black played 27...c6 immediately, taking away all of the knight’s escape squares.
Aronian was in the driver’s seat, and he slowly increased the pressure — as one does in these queenless positions — transferring his king to the queenside to capture the unfortunate knight:
33...Kb7 and White soon gave up his knight for the c6-pawn. Vachier-Lagrave defended stubbornly until move 67, but to no avail — Aronian did not falter in the final, technical phase.
A draw in game 2 was followed by another Berlin. This time around, it was Aronian who had a knight stuck on the edge of the board:
Vachier-Lagrave vs. Aronian - Game 3
Black’s knight had been sitting still on h4 since move 22, and White finally got to attack it in the diagrammed position with 37.Kg3. Unlike MVL’s knight in the first game, however, Black can save his piece here with 37...g5. Aronian had been defending a tough position, and he continued to do so until move 46, when a triple repetition meant the Armenian would go into the last rapid game of the day only needing a draw to win the set.
In the last game of the day, Vachier-Lagrave tried but could not get anything going with the black pieces. The Frenchman now needs a win to force a blitz tiebreaker on day 2 of the semis.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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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 Ne7 10.Nc3 Bd7 11.b3 Ke8 12.Re1 Nd5 13.Ne4 Bb4 14.Bd2 Bxd2 15.Nfxd2 Nb4 16.Rec1 Rd8 17.a3 Nd5 18.Re1 Ke7 19.Kh2 h5 20.Nf3 Nf4 21.Rad1 Bc8 22.Nd4 h4 23.Ng5 c5 24.Nb5 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rh5 26.Nf3 Bd7 27.Nxa7 c6 28.b4 cxb4 29.axb4 Ng6 30.Re1 Kd8 31.b5 Kc7 32.bxc6 bxc6 33.c4 Kb7 34.Rd1 Bf5 35.Nxc6 Kxc6 36.Rd5 Be6 37.Rb5 Kc7 38.Rc5+ Kd7 39.Ra5 Rf5 40.Ra7+ Kc8 41.Ra8+ Kc7 42.Rg8 Nxe5 43.Nxh4 Rxf2 44.Rxg7 Kd6 45.Rg5 Nxc4 46.Nf3 Bd5 47.Kg1 Rb2 48.Rg3 Rb1+ 49.Kf2 Rb2+ 50.Kg1 Nd2 51.Nxd2 Rxd2 52.Rg4 f5 53.Rg6+ Ke5 54.Kh2 Be4 55.Kg1 Kf4 56.Rg8 Ke3 57.Rg3+ Ke2 58.Rg7 Rd1+ 59.Kh2 Kf2 60.Ra7 Rd2 61.Ra5 Kf1 62.Ra1+ Kf2 63.Ra5 f4 64.Ra4 Ke3 65.Ra3+ Kd4 66.Ra4+ Ke5 67.Ra5+ Bd5 0–1
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Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2784 | Aronian,L | 2781 | 0–1 | 2020 | C67 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.1 |
Aronian,L | 2781 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2784 | ½–½ | 2020 | A48 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.2 |
Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2784 | Aronian,L | 2781 | ½–½ | 2020 | C67 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.3 |
Aronian,L | 2781 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2784 | 1–0 | 2020 | E60 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.4 |
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Radjabov 3 : 1 Dubov
As mentioned by Peter Leko during the commentary webcast, Radjabov is a player that has the ability to both play solid chess and show great tactical strength when needed. Leko explained that the Azerbaijani learned this as a young prodigy, when he played sharp openings against the likes of Kasparov or Kramnik and was duly punished by ‘correct’, strategic play once he made the slightest mistake.
This ability served him well against the ever-dangerous Dubov in the first set of their semifinal clash. In game 3, Radjabov got a strategic advantage out of the opening, to which his opponent reacted appropriately, defending his weaknesses until entering what seemed to be a savable endgame. The Azerbaijani kept putting pressure, though, until an imprecision by Dubov allowed him to grab a pawn:
Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.
Radjabov vs. Dubov - Game 3
The material is even, but White’s knight is ready to attack Black’s weak pawns on the kingside with Dubov’s king far from the action. A move like 70...Rb2 would have maintained the tension, while the committal 70...f6 led to 71.Rd2 Be5 (71...Rb4 was better) 72.Nxf6:
Radjabov needed ten more moves to convert this position into his first win of the semifinals.
In a must-win situation, Dubov tried to complicate matters out of a Sicilian, but it was Radjabov who got the upper hand in the middlegame. The Azerbaijani ended up collecting another victory after 53 moves.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Rc1 Bd6 9.Bd3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 0-0 11.0-0 Qe7 12.Qc2 b6 13.Ne4 Bb7 14.Nxd6 Qxd6 15.Rfd1 Qe7 16.Bd3 Rfc8 17.Bh7+ Kh8 18.Be4 Kg8 19.Qa4 a6 20.Nd2 Rc7 21.a3 c5 22.Bxb7 Rxb7 23.Qc6 Rab8 24.Nf3 Qe8 25.h3 Qc8 26.Qa4 Rc7 27.dxc5 Rxc5 28.Rxc5 Nxc5 29.Qf4 Rb7 30.Ne5 f6 31.Nc4 Rd7 32.Rxd7 Nxd7 33.Qe4 Nf8 34.Qd4 Nd7 35.b4 Qc6 36.f4 Kf7 37.Kh2 Ke7 38.Qd3 Qd5 39.Qc2 Kd8 40.Nd2 e5 41.Nf3 exf4 42.exf4 Nf8 43.Qe2 b5 44.Qe3 Ne6 45.Kg1 Kc8 46.Kf2 Kb7 47.g4 g5 48.fxg5 hxg5 49.Nd2 Nf4 50.Qe4 Nxh3+ 51.Ke3 Nf4 52.Qxd5+ Nxd5+ 53.Kd4 Ne7 54.Ne4 f5 55.Nd6+ Kc6 56.Nxf5 Nxf5+ 57.gxf5 Kd6 58.Ke4 Ke7 59.Kf3 Kf7 60.Kg3 Kg7 61.Kf3 Kf7 62.Kg3 Kg7 63.Kf3 Kf7 ½–½
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Radjabov,T | 2765 | Dubov,D | 2702 | ½–½ | 2020 | D43 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.1 |
Dubov,D | 2702 | Radjabov,T | 2765 | ½–½ | 2020 | E11 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.2 |
Radjabov,T | 2765 | Dubov,D | 2702 | 1–0 | 2020 | D43 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.3 |
Dubov,D | 2702 | Radjabov,T | 2765 | 0–1 | 2020 | B32 | Airthings Masters KO 2020 | 1.4 |
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