Carlsen takes first blood as Artemiev runs riot
World Champ Magnus Carlsen took first blood against Tour nemesis Wesley So in a vicious first day of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid quarters. The Norwegian came out on top in a thrilling four-game match between the two biggest dogs on the $1.6 million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Carlsen now needs just a draw in tomorrow’s second match to go through to the semis of leg seven of the Tour. But having beaten Carlsen twice in finals already this season, two-time US champ So is sure to roar back. Carlsen vs So has been the blue-ribbon match so far in the year-long series of online events, and this one got off to a suitably dramatic start. First, Carlsen made a huge mistake then – inexplicably – the machine-like So blundered too to hand the champ an opening round win. The drama continued in game 2 as Tour leader Carlsen simply imploded to hand the initiative back to the American. Momentum then swung again as a wild game in the third gave Carlsen a 2-1 lead. With So now in a must-win situation, Carlsen shut up shop and steered the fourth to a draw which leaves him 1-0 up in matches overnight. Carlsen said: “It’s huge for me. It’s the first time, except a third-place match, that I’ve managed to win the first match so it’s massive.” Meanwhile, the QF between old-hand Levon Aronian and the event’s 17-year-old surprise package Arjun Erigaisi was exploding. The youngster, the lowest rated player in the tournament, had escaped with a draw in the first game against the unbeaten Aronian, who dominated the prelims. But in game 2, Erigaisi unleashed a vicious attack to inflict Aronian’s first defeat in 16 games and take seemingly control of the tie. It then turned around in game 3, as Aronian, who has been in stunning form in this tournament, used all his creative genius to hit straight back with a win. The match eventually fizzled out to a 2-2 draw after the final game ended peacefully with three-fold repetition. It was, however, a hugely impressive showing by Erigaisi against the world number 5. Erigaisi said afterward: “I’m pretty happy, but I hope to do better tomorrow.” Asked what it’s like playing the teenager, Aronian said: “He’s brave, so it’s good to play somebody who’s not just sitting back and trying to make a draw.” He added: “I’ll try to press in the openings, and see how it goes.” The clash between Vladislav Artemiev and Anish Giri was also on fire as the Russian ran riot to end the first mini-match early. Artemiev, the 2019 European Champion, scored three straight wins to blow Dutch number 1 Giri off the board. Artemiev said after: “I’m not such a bad player in rapid and blitz, so it’s not such a big surprise that I can make a score like this.” The speedster now just needs to draw the second match tomorrow to go through to the semis. Giri, who revealed he had a Covid-19 vaccination yesterday, said: “There’s one side-effect that they haven’t mentioned, that you play horrible chess!” By comparison, the final quarter-final match between China’s Ding Liren and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, was a tight affair. The pair played three draws in a row before Duda appeared to take control of the final game – and the match. But with less than a minute left on his clock, the Pole let the win slip and took a draw by repetition. It leaves the tie level and hanging on a one-day shootout tomorrow. The Goldmoney Asian Rapid is broadcast live on Norwegian TV station TV 2 and streamed with commentary in several languages on chess24’s YouTube and Twitch channels. Highlights will also be available in 60 countries on the Eurosport app. Play resumes tomorrow at 13:00 CEST. All games will be played on the chess24.com playzone. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
Queens’ Festival goes big
Over 460 female players from 82 countries participated in the individual and team tournaments within the Queens’ festival global chess tournaments run from June 11 to June 27. The ambitious global project aiming at connecting women chess players from around the world of all ages and all rating groups was organized by FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess in cooperation with FIDE Events Commission and with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as Asian Chess Federation, African Chess Confederation, European Chess Union, and Confederation of Chess for Americas. After four continental qualifiers, the strongest players in their rating categories advanced to the Queens’ Online Individual and Team Finals. In the highest-rated category (> 2100), the individual tournament saw the triumph of IM/WGM Martha Fierro from Ecuador with IM/WGM Olga Zimina (Italy) finishing second and WGM Gong Qianyun (Singapore) coming in third. Argentina scored 29.5 points and emerged as the winner of the Team Blitz Tournament. Georgia with 29 points and Indonesia with 28 points finished second and third respectively. The event format allowed winning prizes in different rating categories and gave a chance to all to represent their countries in the finals. In addition, winners got multiple training sessions with leading chess coaches: Arthur Jussupow, Aleksey Dreev, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Ilaha Kadimova. “One of the important goals of the FIDE WOM Commission is to build a network and a database for women in chess so we can share and spread important information more easily and efficiently. The Queens’ Festival is a clear step forward to achieve this goal. We believe that education can bring lasting results to boost female participation in all aspects of chess life. Therefore we offer our winners multiple training sessions with leading chess trainers. Our commission is also constantly supporting women by arranging numerous educational seminars for them in recent years, free of charge,” said the Chair of FIDE WOM Commission Eva Repkova. Queens’ Festival side events also enjoyed considerable interest. Presentations by speakers of the project were watched by thousands of viewers on the FIDE YouTube Channel. Many important topics were covered, including gender equality, which is of utmost importance to the chess community and society in general. “We are so happy with the outcome of the seminars! Ten speakers, participants from 54 countries, many hours of very interesting discussions. It was an important part of our project,” said the FIDE Vice President Lukasz Turlej. All the seminars as well as broadcasts of individual and team blitz finals can be watched here. The Queens’ Festival was warmly acclaimed by many female chess players who participated in the tournaments or watched the online seminars. “Thank you so much for organizing this event. You have no idea how much this means to me. At my age, most of my female friends already gave up chess, and even I did… (until I got married to a chess player), but God has a way of bringing back the dreams we thought we lost forever.” – wrote Melody Lady G. Takayasu from Japan. The first edition of “The Queens’ Festival” was a success and the organizers hope that the project will grow in the coming years. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is proud to contribute to this initiative and will continue to do so in the future. Especially as the year 2022 was declared to be “The Year of Woman in Chess” by FIDE.