For some, it was surprising to see Vladislav Artemiev reaching the finals of the Goldmoney Rapid Asian event. However, if we take a look at the rapid-chess ranking, we note that the Russian is a quickplay specialist. Not only that, Artemiev is also known for his tactical ability in positions that other might evaluate as lifeless.
But Aronian was on fire during this event. He won the preliminaries and went on to knock out Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals before securing first place rather quickly against his younger opponent. After winning the first set 2½-1½, he won the first two games in Sunday’s second set to make it impossible for Artemiev to equalize the score and take the match to tiebreaks.
On Saturday, he made good use of a tricky knight to survive an ending a pawn down with the black pieces.
Artemiev’s conversion started well from the diagrammed position, but he faltered on move 44 and Aronian had no trouble finding a surprising refutation.
In Sunday’s first game, Aronian showed his great technique again, as he won an endgame with rook and two pawns against bishop and three pawns.
Often patience is a key factor in endgames. In this position, Artemiev rushed with 50.f3 and went on to lose the game eight moves later. GM Müller annotates.
