Champions Chess Tour Finals: Carlsen keeps his lead

by André Schulz
9/28/2021 – On day 3 of the Meltwater Chess Champion Finals Magnus Carlsen played against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who had won both of his previous matches. The rapid match between "MVL" and the World Champion ended with a 2-2 tie, but in the playoffs Carlsen had the better of it. Wesley So won his rapid match against Vladislav Artemiev but is still five points behind Carlsen in the standings. | Photos and graphics: Meltwater Chess Champions Tour
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World Champion Magnus Carlsen is the clear favourite to win the Meltwater Chess Champions Tour – in fact, even without the bonus points that gave Carlsen a 4-point lead before the first move was even played, he would have been the favourite. However, in his match against MVL Carlsen had some problems though he started with a quick, smooth win in vintage Carlsen style.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 e6 8.b3 Be7 9.Bb2 Nf6 10.Qd2 0-0-0 11.0-0-0 d5 12.Qe2 Bc5 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Nxd5 Rxd5 16.f3 f6 17.Rxd5 Qxd5 18.Rd1 Qc6 19.a4 Kb8 20.Kb1 e5 21.Qd3 Be7 22.Qf5 a6 23.h4 23.Rd7 immediately was also possible. g6 24.Bxe5+ Ka8 25.Qd3 fxe5 26.Rxe7 23...h5 24.Rd7 Re8 After 24...g6 White still has 25.Bxe5+ Ka8 26.Qd3 fxe5 27.Rxe7 and White is a pawn up and has the much better pieces. 25.Bxe5+ Ka8 25...fxe5 26.Qxe5+ Ka8 27.Rxe7+- 26.Rc7 26.Rc7 Black loses the queen or will be mated: Qd5 27.Rc8+ Rxc8 28.Qxc8+ Ka7 29.Bb8+ Kb6 29...Ka8 30.Bc7+ Ka7 31.Qb8# 30.Qc7# 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M-Vachier-Lagrave,M-1–02021B52Meltwater Tour Final 20213.1

Game 2 ended with a draw but then Carlsen lost game 3 after blundering/bringing a dubious pawn sacrifice in the opening.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 g6 8.b3 d5 9.e5?! This loses a pawn. 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.0-0 Bg7 12.Be3= 9...Qc7 10.Nce2 10.Ndb5!? Qxe5+ 11.Qe2 Qxe2+ 12.Kxe2 with compensation. 10...Qxe5 11.Bf4 Qh5 12.f3 Black's queen has to be careful not to get trapped. Bh6 13.g4 Qh3 14.Qd2 Bxf4 15.Nxf4 Qh4+ 16.Kd1 16.Qf2 Qxf2+ 17.Kxf2 was no real option for White. 16...Nc6 17.Ng2 Qh3 18.Nf4 Qh6 19.h4 Qg7 20.c3 0-0 21.g5 Nh5 Or 21...Nd7 22.Nxd5 Qe5 22.Nxh5 22.Nxd5? Rfd8-+ 22...gxh5 Keeping the h-file closed. 23.Re1 e6 24.f4 Rac8 25.Rc1 Rfe8 26.Qd3 Qg6 27.Kd2 Nxd4 28.Qxg6+ hxg6 29.cxd4 Kf8 Endgame magician or not - this position is simply lost for Black. 30.Rxc8 Rxc8 31.Rc1 Rxc1 32.Kxc1 f6 33.Kd2 Kf7 34.Ke3 e5 35.fxe5 fxe5 36.dxe5 Ke6 37.Kd4 b6 38.b4 b5 39.a3 a6 0–1
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Carlsen,M-Vachier-Lagrave,M-0–12021B70Meltwater Tour Final 20213.3

Game 4 brought another draw but in the blitz-tiebreak Carlsen won without too much trouble.

Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.

Wesley So, the only player who has still chances to catch Carlsen, came to a clear win against Vladislav Artemiev and is now 5 points behind Carlsen, one point less than yesterday.

Hikaru Nakamura defeated Levon Aronian clearly 3-1, but the match Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Jan-Krzystztof Duda was much closer and full of exciting games with unusual positions. Duda won the first game, but in game 2 Mamedyarov bounced back. After two more draws Duda won the blitz-tiebreak. In the rapid games Anish Giri was close to losing against Teimour Radjabov but he managed to save a 2-2 and then won the blitz-tiebreak.

Games

 
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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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