Goldmoney Asian Rapid QF: Artemiev stuns Giri, Carlsen beats So

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/30/2021 – The first sets of the quarterfinal matches at the Goldmoney Asian Rapid Tournament were played on Tuesday. Magnus Carlsen and Vladislav Artemiev got off to a good start, with the former obtaining a 2½-1½ victory over Wesley So and the latter defeating Anish Giri by a convincing 3-0 score. The remaining two mini-matches finished drawn. | Photo: Alina l’Ami / Tata Steel Chess

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Exciting pairings

Fighting chess was the rule rather than the exception on day 1 of the quarterfinals at the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament. Two of the matches go into day 2 with a tied score, while Anish Giri and Wesley So will need to bounce back in the second set to force tiebreaks — two blitz games followed, potentially, by an Armageddon decider.

While So was defeated by Magnus Carlsen in an exciting mini-match full of ups and downs for both players, Giri was convincingly beaten by Vladislav Artemiev by a 3-0 score. The one-sided nature of Artemiev’s victory might have had something to do with the fact that Giri celebrated his 27th birthday on Monday — or, perhaps, it was due to a side effect produced by the coronavirus vaccine.

There was no lack of excitement in the drawn mini-matches either. Arjun Erigaisi continues to impress in his tour debut, as he held his own against Levon Aronian in the first set of their confrontation. Meanwhile, the fact that Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Ding Liren drew all four of their games does not mean their mini-match was boring or dull — in fact, Duda and Ding played some of the most exciting games of the day.  

Goldmoney Asian Rapid Chess 2021

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Carlsen 2½ - 1½ So

Against one of his most feared opponents in the online era, Carlsen started the first set with the white pieces — in a game he could have easily lost after blundering a piece on move 21.

 
Carlsen vs. So - Game 1

Grabbing the pawn with 21.Nxa5 in the previous move was a mistake by the world champion, since it allowed 21...fxe3, and after 22.fxe3 Rxa5 White cannot capture the rook due to ...Nxe3, forking queen, rook and bishop. Carlsen was clearly on the back foot after 23.Bxd5 Rxd5, but inaccurate play by his opponent allowed him to equalize shortly afterwards.

Carlsen eventually got an edge thanks to his connected passers on the queenside. In the end, it was a blunder by So on move 32 which gave the Norwegian an unlikely victory.

 

32...Bd7 loses to 33.Qxd7, as 33...Qxd7 fails to 34.Bxe5+ with a discovered check.

So bounced back immediately, getting the better of his opponent from the white side of an Italian in game 2. A third decisive game in a row saw Carlsen getting ahead on the scoreboard after outplaying his rival from a materially imbalanced position.

The world champion only needed a draw with black to win the first set. It was not easy, but he managed to get the all-important half point in the end, which means So needs a win in the second set to force the match to go to tiebreaks.

 
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1.e41,174,61854%2421---
1.d4952,91955%2434---
1.Nf3283,84956%2440---
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1.g319,80456%2427---
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1.a411759%2462---
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1.Nh39267%2511---
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1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 f5 7.d3 Be7 8.e3 Be6 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 a5 11.Rd1 Kh8 12.Na4 Qd6 13.Bd2 g5 14.d4 e4 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.Bc4 Bf6 18.Nc5 Bg8 19.Rab1 Qe7 20.Nxb7 f4 21.Nxa5 fxe3 22.fxe3 Rxa5 23.Bxd5 Rxd5 24.Bb4 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 c5 26.Bxc5 Qc7 27.b4 Re8 28.a4 Be5 29.h3 g4 30.hxg4 Qg7 31.Bd4 Be6 32.Qc6 Bd7 33.Qxd7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2847So,W27701–02021A28Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.1
So,W2770Carlsen,M28471–02021C53Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.2
Carlsen,M2847So,W27701–02021A28Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.3
So,W2770Carlsen,M2847½–½2021C53Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.4

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Artemiev 3 - 0 Giri

A sudden attack along the back rank gave Artemiev the first of three victories against the winner of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational.

 
Artemiev vs. Giri - Game 1

Grabbing a pawn with 37...Rxb3 meant the black rook was no longer defending a5 and, more importantly, it allowed the white rook to infiltrate along the a-file. There followed 38.Rxa5 Nb4 39.Ra8+ Kh7 40.Nf6+

 

40...Bxf6 is forced, which means the other rook gains access to the back rank after 41.exf6. The game continued with 41...Nd5 42.Ree8 Nxf6 43.Rh8+ Kg7 44.Be5

 

Giri resigned, as he would need to give up a rook to prevent mate on g8.

Two more wins by Artemiev meant there was no need to play a fourth game. Unfortunately for the Russian, winning by a wider margin does not grant extra points — notwithstanding, he must have got a confidence boost from the one-sided victory. 

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.e4 0-0 8.c3 a5 9.Qc2 Re8 10.b3 d4 11.cxd4 exd4 12.a3 Nd7 13.Nc4 Nc5 14.Bg5 Qd7 15.Rab1 b5 16.Ncd2 Ne6 17.e5 Ne7 18.Ne4 Bb7 19.Nc5 Nxc5 20.Qxc5 Nf5 21.Rfe1 Bf8 22.Qc1 c5 23.a4 Bd5 24.axb5 Qb7 25.Qf4 Ng7 26.Nh4 Ne6 27.Bxd5 Qxd5 28.Qf3 Qxf3 29.Nxf3 Reb8 30.h4 Rxb5 31.Nd2 Rab8 32.Ra1 h6 33.Bf6 Bg7 34.Ra3 Nc7 35.Be7 Nd5 36.Bd6 R8b7 37.Ne4 Rxb3 38.Rxa5 Nb4 39.Ra8+ Kh7 40.Nf6+ Bxf6 41.exf6 Nd5 42.Ree8 Nxf6 43.Rh8+ Kg7 44.Be5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Artemiev,V2704Giri,A27801–02021A07Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.1
Giri,A2780Artemiev,V27040–12021B12Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.2
Artemiev,V2704Giri,A27801–02021D47Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.3

Arjun 2 - 2 Aronian

In a very close first set, winning the first game would have certainly made a difference for Aronian, who missed a chance to play a killer rook move from a superior position.

 

36.Rb6 would have given White a massive advantage here, since 36...axb6 would lose quickly for Black, while 36...Rc7 37.Ne2 would have also been very discouraging for the Indian. Aronian did not play it, though, and went for 36.Ng6. Only after 36...Bxg6 37.hxg6 h5 did the Armenian go for 38.Rb6, but in this configuration Black has enough resources to keep the balance. The game was drawn shortly after.

The players traded blows in games 2 and 3, and a draw in the fourth encounter meant the youngster had drawn the first set against the fifth highest-rated player in the world.

Note that the first game in the replayer below includes endgame analysis by our in-house expert, GM Karsten Müller.

 
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1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.h4 h6 7.h5 g5 8.f4 g4 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.e4 f5 11.e5 d6 12.exd6 Qxd6 13.Be3 Bd4 14.Qd2 Nf6 15.Nge2 Kf7 16.Na4 Bd7 17.Bxd4 cxd4 18.Qa5 Rhd8 19.Nc5 Qb8 20.b4 Be8 21.Kf2 Qb6 22.Rab1 Nd7 23.Nxd7 Qxa5 24.bxa5 Rxd7 25.c5 Kf6 26.Rb4 Rad8 27.Rc1 Bf7 28.a6 Bg8 29.a4 Bf7 30.a5 e5 31.fxe5+ Kxe5 32.Nf4 Kf6 33.Rb7 Re7 34.Re1 The power of the passed pawns In the endgame far advanced passed pawns are usually very mighty: Rdd7? Passive defense does not hold. The active defense 34...Rxe1 35.Kxe1 Re8+ 36.Kd2 Re5 holds, e.g. 37.Rxa7 Rxc5 38.Rc7 Bd5 39.Nxd5+ Rxd5 40.Rxc6+ Kg5 41.a7 Rxa5= 35.Rxe7 Rxe7 36.Ng6? The wrong way as now the defense can not be overloadad anymore. The direct 36.Rb6‼ wins, e.g. Rc7 37.Ne2 Bxh5 38.Rb7 Re7 39.Nxd4 Re5 40.Rxa7 Rxc5 41.Nb3 Rc2+ 42.Kf1+- 36...Bxg6 37.hxg6 h5 38.Rb6 Rc7 39.Rb7 Re7 40.Rb6 Rc7 41.Rb7 Re7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2781Erigaisi Arjun2567½–½2021Goldmoney Asian Rapid Final 20211.1
Erigaisi,A2567Aronian,L27811–02021E51Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.2
Aronian,L2781Erigaisi,A25671–02021A13Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.3
Erigaisi,A2567Aronian,L2781½–½2021D38Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.4

Ding 2 - 2 Duda

The first two games in this confrontation lasted 73 and 87 moves respectively, with the white player in each game pushing for a win from slightly superior positions in technical endgames. Can you spot Duda’s only move to defend with black in the following position?

 
Ding vs. Duda - Game 2

Karsten Müller analysed both this game and the one played earlier, in which it was Ding who found precise defensive moves to save a draw (games 1 and 2).

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Re8 8.Bd2 Bf8 9.a3 h6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Bd3 Bg4 12.0-0-0 Bd7 13.h3 b5 14.Bxb5 Rb8 15.Bxc6 Bxc6 16.Ne5 Ba8 17.Nd3 Ne4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Nc5 Bd5 20.Ba5 Qc8 21.b4 Rb6 22.Kb2 Rg6 23.g3 c6 24.Na4 Rf6 25.Rd2 Qe6 26.h4 Bc4 27.Rc1 Bd3 28.Qd1 Qh3 29.Bc7 Ree6 30.Nc5 Bxc5 31.Rxc5 Rf5 32.Be5 a6 33.Rc1 f6 34.Bc7 Rd5 35.Qb3 Kh7 36.Rxd3 exd3 37.Qxd3+ Qf5 38.Kc3 g6 39.Qxf5 Rxf5 40.Rc2 g5 41.Kd3 h5 42.f4 gxf4 43.e4 Rb5 44.gxf4 f5 45.Be5 fxe4+ 46.Kxe4 Rg6 47.Rc4 a5 48.bxa5 Rxa5 49.a4 Ra6 50.Rb4 Rg4 51.Kf5 Ra7 52.Rc4 Rxh4 53.Rxc6 Rg4 54.d5 Rg8 55.d6 h4 56.Rc3 Rxa4 57.Bf6 Ra5+ 58.Ke6 Rh5 Ding's drawing defense Races of passed pawns are often very sharp: 59.Rh3? Duda misses Ding's drawing defense. The direct 59.d7 wins, e.g. h3 59...Rh6 60.Rc8+- 60.Rc8 h2 61.Rxg8 h1Q 62.Rh8+ Kg6 63.f5+ Rxf5 64.Rxh1 Rxf6+ 65.Ke7 Rf7+ 66.Ke8+- 59...Rf8! 60.Bg5 60.d7 is met by Rh6 61.d8Q Rxd8 62.Rxh4= 60...Kg6! Another only move. 61.d7 Rxg5 62.fxg5 Kxg5 Now the draw is clear: 63.Rc3 Rd8 64.Rc8 Rxd7 65.Kxd7 h3 66.Ke6 Kg4 67.Rc4+ Kg3 68.Kf5 h2 69.Rc3+ Kg2 70.Kg4 h1Q 71.Rc2+ Kg1 72.Rc1+ Kh2 73.Rxh1+ Kxh1 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Duda,J2729Ding,L2799½–½2021Goldmoney Asian Rapid Final 20211.1
Ding,L2799Duda,J2729½–½2021Goldmoney Asian Rapid Final 20211.2
Duda,J2729Ding,L2799½–½2021D41Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.3
Ding,L2799Duda,J2729½–½2021D43Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO1.4

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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