Carlsen hits target to win Aimchess US Rapid
Magnus Carlsen is the Aimchess US Rapid winner after a near-faultless display against Vladislav Artemiev. The World Champion now marches into next month’s $300,000 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final top of the leaderboard and in top form. Having secured the Aimchess US Rapid, Carlsen takes home the $30,000 first prize. He has won three of the eight Tour events he entered and racked up total earnings of more than $215,000. Carlsen had won the first match decisively yesterday and carried that advantage through to Sunday’s second match. It took just three games in the second for the Norwegian to brush aside his 23-year-old opponent. Artemiev, the world number 39, simply wasn’t given a chance. Right from the start, Carlsen was on top. He launched a swift attack in the first game and broke through to go 1-0 up. Artemiev – playing in his second Tour final – tried to resist but found himself low on time and collapsed under pressure. It left the Russian – who has been the breakout star of the Tour – needing to win at least two of the next three games just to force a tiebreak. In the second, Artemiev played powerfully and forced Carlsen onto the defensive. But his advantage evaporated when time trouble told again, and the Russian had to settle for a draw. Artemiev, with a mountain to climb, now had to win, or Carlsen would be crowned champion. Artemiev went all-out attack, but there was no way through. Carlsen maintained complete control and broke through to clinch the title in style. The match ended 2.5-0.5, and Carlsen won 2-0 overall. “It feels great,” Carlsen said afterwards. “It’s the first time, in like, ever that I’ve won one of these Tour events, and it’s been a fairly smooth ride. So it’s been good!” Asked whether his performance in this event was the best of the Tour so far, Carlsen said: “I would say so for sure.” He added: “I’m feeling good. I’m playing quicker and more confidently, so that’s good.” Artemiev has been super-impressive in the Tour played only three events, and made two finals and a semi. He also now progresses to the Tour Final as one of the top eight. Speaking of his opponent, Carlsen said his natural talent is “undeniable”. The Tour Final runs from September 25 to October 3. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
Kingue Victor Ebosse and Whilema Ndjock win Cameroon Championship
FM Kingue Victor Ebosse and Whilema Ndjock are new champions of Cameroon. The Cameroon Chess Championships of the 2021/2022 season started with the regional qualifying rounds, with the best players advancing into the final. The final was split between the two largest cities (four rounds in Yaoundé and four rounds in Douala) and held in Open and Junior Under 15 categories. The eventual champion started right out of the gate and took the lead, winning four straight games. Given that he had beaten his local nemesis IM Marius Amba (who blundered right after the time control), many thought the title was in Victor’s bag. However, after the event moved to Douala the leader slowed down as he had to work hard to make draws in the games against Zebaze Martial and Meli Junior. Luckily for Victor, his main competitor IM Marius Amba stumbled, losing to Michael Tchuenbou. The champion finished strong, defeating Hassan Mouliom and Noumbo Vidal and clinched the national title (fifth in his career) with an excellent score of 7/8. Marius Amba finished clear second, a full point behind the champion; Zebaze Loïc Dylane is third with 5/8. The 2020/2021 championship was special as, for the first time, it featured a junior event (Under 15) won by Whilema Ndjock (pictured above).
Carlsen bullies Artemiev on Day 1 of final
Magnus Carlsen dominated on the first day of the Aimchess US Rapid final and is now a hot favourite to win his third Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title. The World Champion and overall Tour leader raced into a swift lead against the event’s 23-year-old breakout star. Artemiev is ranked just 39 in the world but has entered three Tour tournaments and reached the final in two of them and a semi in the other. But Carlsen, winner of the New In Chess Classic and the FTX Crypto Cup, was in no mood to welcome him into the top bracket of elite chess players and showed absolutely no mercy. Not even an unfortunate mistake in game 3 which provoked shocked reaction from Carlsen could hold him back. After calling Artemiev a “sublime” positional player yesterday, Carlsen stamped his authority by blowing him away with a positional masterpiece of his own. It was an ominous start for Artemiev. The second was worse. Artemiev was pressing for most of the game but suffered connection problems and wasn’t able to keep up on the clock. It was a hammer-blow. A blunder lost him a piece and then Carlsen started working his endgame magic. Facing a barrage of tricks, Artemiev was running out of time and resigned. Two-nil up, Carlsen just needed a draw in the third to end the match a game early. Then came the strange mistake which looked like a mouse-slip and gifted Artemiev the win. The Russian now had hope of a comeback. He still had to win the final game, however, and the turnaround was not to be as Carlsen calmly minimised Artemiev’s chances and steered it to a draw. Carlsen had won the first match 2.5-1.5 and takes a 1-0 lead into tomorrow’s decider. Carlsen said after it was “reasonably comfortable” and admitted he’d made a mistake, not a mouse-slip, in game 3. He added: “It was unfortunate because without that move, I don’t think the fourth game happens.” Artemiev said the disconnection in game 2 hampered him but facing the champion was a “good experience”. In the battle for third-place, Levon Aronian was awarded the win without a game being played as teen hotshot Alireza Firouzja pulled out of the tie due to ill health. Firouzja, who lost to Artemiev in the semis, apologised to fans on Twitter and said he would be back. Tomorrow’s deciding match starts at 17:00 CEST. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
15 qualifiers join China, India and Russia in Top Division
UPDATE: The teams of the Philippines (Pool A) and Ecuador (Pool E) will not qualify for the Top Division after the fair play team reported that they were found in breach of the rules of the tournament. As a result, Australia and Paraguay, respectively, advance to Top Division. Saturday, September 4th, 2021 – Division Two came to a close this afternoon with some very exciting last-round matches, defining the three winners of each group. Although a couple of teams (especially Colombia) dominated their groups, this stage of the event has been very closely contested. In fact, some of the qualifiers had to win their last round match to get through! Pending the Fair Play panel report, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Philippines, Shenzhen, China, Slovenia and Sweden are the fifteen lucky teams that have qualified to play in the Top Division next week, running September 8th-10th. They will be joined by the twenty-five best teams in the world, including Russia (Grischuk, Dubov, Goryachkina, Kosteniuk, Esipenko and Shuvalova as main boards), China (Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Xu Zhihang and Zhu Jiner) and India (Anand, Harikrishna, Koneru, Harika, Nihal and Vaishali). Division 2 – Pool A Pool A concluded with Indonesia, the Philippines and Shenzhen China, being the first three teams to advance to the Top Division. Indonesia and Philippines tied for first place with 16/18, but Indonesia came out on top with 40½ board points against 39½. A very close fight indeed! Indonesia did defeat the Philippines in their individual match by 4½-1½, so all in all, the final standings seem quite fair. The third qualifying spot went to the team from Shenzhen China (13/18), who won the crucial last round match against Australia (10/18) by 5-1. A big part to their success in this match went to GM Zhao Xue, who defeated WGM Julia Ryjanova. In the following diagram, White (Zhao) forced a big material gain. Can you see how? The Chinese GM played 48.Nxg5+ Kh6 49.Nf7+! and now 49…Kg6 or 49…Kh5 run into a discovered check with 50.Ne5. So her opponent went 49…Kh7 but after 50.Qh8+! Kg6 42.Ne5+! White forked the queen on d3 and forced resignation. The top scorers in this pool were two players from the Shenzhen China team, who fielded their only six main players – no reserves – during the whole tournament! WFM Li Xinyu scored a whopping undefeated 8/9 on board six while her teammate GM Zeng Chongsheng was a trustworthy board one: undefeated 7/9 score. Indonesian IM Irene Sukandar also performed well with 6½ /7 on board three and shared her joy on social media. Division 2 – Pool B Pool B was by far the most equal of the five groups, with the standings changing after each round. In the end, the group finished with Latvia, Moldova and Italy advancing to the Top Division. Latvia (14/18) and Italy (13/18) were leading the pack going into the last day of play, tied with Uzbekistan (12/18). But we did mention yesterday that anything could happen, as Moldova (14/18) and Estonia (12/18) were only one match point behind. An exciting final round determined the qualification spots. Moldova fielded their best team, headed by GM’s Victor Bologan and Viorel Iordachescu, and defeated Uzbekistan by 4½ -1½, overtaking at the same time Italy and Estonia, who tied 3-3. A very close shave for the Italians, who would have been out on their heels if they had lost! The main surprise of the group has been the relatively poor performance of Austria, one of the pre-tournament group favourites – their 2252 medium rating was very high. On board one, GM Markus Ragger (2630) couldn’t find his best game (3½ /8), but in general, most of the team underperformed this year. The best of luck to them for the future! The top scorer of this group (and the whole division!) was Latvia’s WGM Laura Rogule, who won all nine games on board three against a 1935 medium rating opposition. A huge achievement! The following diagram (Rogule plays Black) is one of her wins today. Black played 32…Nf4+! 33.gxf4 Qg4+ 34.Kh2 Qxh4+ 35.Kg2 Qg4+ 36.Kh2 Qh4+ 37.Kg2 Qg4+ 38.Kh2 and now 38…Qh5+! 39.Kg2 exf4! (threatening both …Rg5 and …f3) 40.Ne2 f3+ 41.Kg1 fxe2 and White resigned. Division 2 – Pool C A very tight last round win by 3½ -2½ decided the final standings of Pool C. Israel (17/18) was trailing Belarus (16/18) by one match point after their draw against Sri Lanka, but they left the best for the end, fielding a very strong team and overtaking their rivals at the critical moment. Israel made perfect use of their players, fielding all twelve of them during the tournament and ensuring they played between three and five games at the most: a very interesting strategy indeed! Both of these teams have displayed excellent playing skills in this division and have to be reckoned with in the Top Division next week. Sweden (13/18) won their last three matches and squeezed through, edging out Sri Lanka (12/18) by just one match point. They will join Israel and Belarus in the Top Division as well. The top scorers in this group were WFM Yana Ilyuchyk, who won all of her games for Belarus on board four (7/7). GM Pia Cramling (7½ /9) also gave a huge performance on board two for Sweden and was paramount in their qualification Division 2 – Pool D Slovenia and Argentina (both 16/18) were joint winners of Pool D, with the former team edging out the Argentineans on tiebreak: both teams scored 40½ board points, but Slovenia defeated Argentina 4-2 in their seventh-round individual match The third qualifying spot went to Brazil, who were able to score three on-demand wins – including a last-round 3½ -2½ victory over Uruguay – to stay ahead of Venezuela. These three teams have dominated the event leaving no chance for the rest of the group. One of the pre-event group favourites, Uruguay (8th), has had a very unfortunate tournament: four of their six defeats have been by the 3½ -2½ margin. It’s no wonder that they have more board points than fifth-placed Algeria. They probably deserved more, but that is chess! WIM Zala Urh on board six was Slovenia’s best player, with a very decent 7½ /9