Aronian triumphs, Karsten Müller analyzes

by Karsten Müller
7/4/2021 – It was a rather quick victory by Levon Aronian in the finals of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament. The Armenian won the first set on Saturday and scored back-to-back wins in the second mini-match to make it impossible for Vladislav Artemiev to equalize the score and take the match to tiebreaks. Karsten Müller analyzes two endgames in which Aronian showed his excellent technique with the black pieces.
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A patient trickster

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 vs. Aronian - Set 1, Game 2

Artemiev’s conversion started well from the diagrammed position, but he faltered on move 44 and Aronian had no trouble finding a surprising refutation.

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Na3 Bg7 5.Nxc4 c5 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.d3 Bd7 8.Be3 b6 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Rc8 11.0-0 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Nf6 13.Ne5 0-0 14.Rc1 Rxc1 15.Qxc1 Bb5 16.Rd1 Qc8 17.e3 Rd8 18.b3 Qb8 19.Qa1 Nd7 20.Nxf7 Bxd4 21.Qxd4 Kxf7 22.Qd5+ Kg7 23.Qxb5 Nf6 24.Rxd8 Qxd8 25.Bf3 a5 26.Qe5 Kf8 27.g4 h6 28.h4 Qd6 29.Qxd6 exd6 30.Kg2 g5 31.Kg3 Kg7 32.Bc6 d5 33.f3 Kf7 34.hxg5 hxg5 35.f4 Ne4+ 36.Kf3 Nc3 37.fxg5 Kg6 38.Kf4 Nxa2 39.Bxd5 b5 40.Be4+ Kg7 "Aronian's tricky knight" - The duel bishop against knight can be deep: 41.Ke5! White's king must head for the queenside to stop Black's counterplay. a4 41...Nc3 42.Bd3 a4 43.bxa4 bxa4 44.Kd4 Nd1 45.e4 a3 46.Bc4+- 41...Nc1 42.Bc2+- 42.bxa4 bxa4 43.Kd4 a3 44.Kc4? But this runs into a surprising refutation. 44.Kd3! wins as now Nc1+ can be met by 44...Nb4+ 45.Kc3 a2 46.Kb2 Kf7 47.Bf5 Nd5 48.e4 Nc3 49.e5 Kg7 50.e6 Nd5 51.Kxa2 Ne7 52.Kb3+- 45.Kc2 Ne2 46.Bf5! The point. Now White is safe and wins sooner or later. a2 47.Kb2 Nc3 48.e4+- 44...Nc1 45.Kc3 Ne2+! 45...a2? 46.Kb2+- 46.Kb3 a2! This trick saves Aronian. 47.Kb2 Nc3! Again the only move. 47...Nc1? 48.Bc2 Kf7 49.Bf5 Kg7 50.e4 Kf7 51.g6+ Kg7 52.e5 Kf8 53.e6+- 48.Bc2 48.Bf5 is met by Nd1+ 49.Kxa2 Nxe3= 48...Nd5 49.e4 Ne3 50.Bd3 Nxg4 51.Be2 Nf2 52.e5 Nh3 53.Kxa2 Nxg5 54.Kb3 Nf7 55.e6 Ng5 56.Bg4 56.e7 Kf7= 56...Kf6 57.Kc4 Nxe6 58.Bxe6 A real knightmare for White. ½–½
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Artemiev,V2704Aronian,L2781½–½2021A09Goldmoney Asian Rapid Final 20213.1

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.

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 Nf6 5.c4 dxc4 6.Qa4+ Nfd7 7.Qxc4 Nc6 8.d3 Nb6 9.Qh4 0-0 10.Nc3 e5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Bg5 f6 13.Be3 Ne7 14.Rac1 Ned5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bd2 c6 17.b4 Be6 18.Rc2 Rd7 19.Rb1 Rad8 20.Be1 Bf8 21.a3 Nc7 22.a4 Bd5 23.Bh3 Be6 24.Bf1 Bf5 25.Nd2 Ne6 26.Rc4 g5 27.Ne4 Kf7 28.Bc3 h5 29.b5 cxb5 30.Rxb5 b6 31.a5 Rc7 32.Nxg5+ fxg5 33.Rxe5 Bg4 34.Rxe6 Rxc4 35.Rf6+ Ke7 36.dxc4 Bg7 37.Rf3 Bxf3 38.Bxg7 Bg4 39.axb6 Rd1 40.Kg2 axb6 41.e3 Bf5 42.Be2 Rd2 43.Bxh5 g4 44.Kf1 Rd1+ 45.Ke2 Rh1 46.Bc3 Rxh2 47.Bb4+ Ke6 48.e4 Rxh5 49.exf5+ Kxf5 "Do not rush" - This is an important endgame principle: 50.f3? Artemiev rushes. Only after 50.Ke3 Ke6 51.Bc3 Kd6 can White play 51...Rc5 52.Bd4 Rxc4 53.Bxb6= 52.f3 gxf3 53.Bb4+ Ke5 54.Bc3+ Kd6 55.Bb4+ Kc6 56.Kxf3 Rh1 57.g4 Rc1 58.g5 Rxc4 59.g6 Rc1 60.g7 Rg1 61.Bc3= 50...Rh2+! This deadly check had to be avoided. 51.Ke3 gxf3 52.Kxf3 52.c5 is met by bxc5 53.Bxc5 Kg4-+ 52...Rc2 53.g4+ Ke6 54.g5 Rxc4 55.Bf8 Kf5 56.Bh6 56.Be7 b5 57.Ke3 Re4+-+ 56...Rc8 57.Ke3 Kg6 Now the bishop is in a prison. 58.Kd3 b5 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
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  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Artemiev,V2704Aronian,L27810–12021A07Goldmoney Asian Rapid Final 20213.2

Links

Karsten Müller is considered to be one of the greatest endgame experts in the world. His books on the endgame - among them "Fundamentals of Chess Endings", co-authored with Frank Lamprecht, that helped to improve Magnus Carlsen's endgame knowledge - and his endgame columns for the ChessCafe website and the ChessBase Magazine helped to establish and to confirm this reputation. Karsten's Fritztrainer DVDs on the endgame are bestsellers. The mathematician with a PhD lives in Hamburg, and for more than 25 years he has been scoring points for the Hamburger Schachklub (HSK) in the Bundesliga.

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