American Cup: Day 7 Recap
After defeating GM Leinier Dominguez in a dramatic playoff, GM Levon Aronian qualified for the finals of the 2022 American Cup, where he will face GM Fabiano Caruana for the 1st place prize of $50,000. In the women’s field, FM Alice Lee earned herself a rematch in the $25,000 final against GM Irina Krush, after winning an incredibly close match against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan that went all the way to Armageddon. The time control for the event is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for all games in the Champions Bracket, with a rapid time control of 25+10 for the Elimination Bracket and a 10+5 time control for all playoff matches. Open Field – Championship Match Women’s Field – Championship Match ELIMINATION BRACKET ARONIAN – DOMINGUEZ In a repeat of their Champions Bracket match, once again Dominguez played the Petroff and achieved a completely winning position as Black. Only this time instead of giving mate, he had a technically winning queen endgame, with two extra pawns. But Aronian managed to stay in the game, creating counterplay with his queen and a passed c-pawn. Trying to get out of the checks, Dominguez stepped on the wrong square with his king, and Aronian managed to swindle a draw. After 73.c6!, which saved the game for White. | ½-½, 83 moves The second game saw Aronian secure a small edge and start to press as Black, but Dominguez defended well and held the draw, leading to a playoff. In the first game of the playoff Aronian had Black again, and this time opted for a very risky setup against the Italian Game. Dominguez responded well but used up a lot of time to achieve a good setup. As the game sharpened up Dominguez lost control over the position, and a fantastic combination by Aronian decided the game. 32…Nc3!! won the game for Black, as after 33.Rxc3 Qxe4! the queen was untouchable due to back-rank mate. | 0-1 37 moves The final game was perhaps the wildest of the match. Just needing a draw to qualify, Aronian opted for the c3-Sicilian and quickly achieved a winning position. But a surprising blunder let Dominguez completely back into the game, with a queen and knight against Aronian’s two rooks and a bishop. Although it was a tricky situation for White, Aronian managed to sacrifice one of his rooks for Black’s knight and construct a fortress with his remaining rook and bishop, holding the draw and winning the match. The key first game of Aronian vs. Dominguez, saved by Levon. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes LEE – ABRAHAMYAN The Women’s Elimination Final saw a hotly contested match where White won every single game leading up to the Armageddon. First it was Lee who won a back-and-forth game by infiltrating with her queen and rook, then Abrahamyan struck back with the same combo in the next game, squeezing water from a stone in a symmetrical position. In the playoff, Abrahamyan received White in the first game and landed a powerful knight sacrifice that obliterated Lee’s kingside. 36.Nxh6+! left White with a crushing kingside attack. | 1-0, 48 moves This put Lee in a must-win situation for the next game, and she got her chance early on, as she spotted a nice zwischenzug tactic to win material and achieve a strategically won position. Abrahamyan tried to salvage things, but Lee’s technique was too good as she converted her advantage. 12.Nxf5! won a clean pawn for White, due to the threat of Nxe7+ | 1-0, 35 moves In the Armageddon match, Abrahamyan won the coin-toss and chose the White pieces. This decision paid off as she had a chance to win a full piece out of the opening, but missed it in favor of just completing her development. This allowed Lee to get back in the game and fend off White’s initiative. Abrahamyan soon lost the thread and blundered an exchange, after which her position was simply dead lost. Lee grabbed the chance and even went on to win as Abrahamyan exhausted all of her resources. Abrahamyan vs. Lee in Armageddon | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes The finals of the 2022 American Cup will begin Wednesday, April 27 starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Alejandro Ramirez on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Watch all the action LIVE at USChessChamps.com Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo credit: Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Dates & Location:April 20 – 29, 2022, Saint Louis Chess Club Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClub Instagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClub YouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Press Contact:Rebecca Buffington rbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
Teen star Praggnanandhaa in pole position
A day of thrilling all-action chess from every player saw boy wonder Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa regain the lead as Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock loss in the Oslo Esports Cup. With just two rounds to go, 16-year-old Pragg kept up the pressure with a dominant 3-point win against the lowest-ranked player in the event Eric Hansen. Carlsen, meanwhile, lost for the first time to the dangerous Dutchman Jorden van Foreest, a player once jokingly described as the World Champion’s “punching bag”. It leaves Pragg as the sole leader in the first Major in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season. The youngster was the first to finish and his 2.5-0.5 win sent a clear message that, despite losing to Carlsen in their head-to-head yesterday, Pragg is a major threat to the champ. Explaining his mindset going into today’s match after his setback against Carlsen, the boy from Chennai said: “It’s ok because I played well, and let me play my best chess in the remaining tournament.” The youngster has now won four of five matches in the event, having lost only to Carlsen. Pragg has also picked up $30,000 in prize money. Incredibly, all Pragg’s matches so far have ended with a game to spare. In contrast, Carlsen did not exude his normal confidence against a player he has never lost to. It didn’t help that Van Foreest, who acted as an advisor to Carlsen at the last World Championship, showed the Tour leader absolutely no respect and took the fight to his former boss right from the word go. Carlsen quickly found himself in trouble after a blunder lost him the second game left him 1.5-0.5 down. The Norwegian shook his head in disgust when he realised he’d missed the winning move 20.Bxa6! “It turns out the World Champion is apparently human!” said IM Tania Sachdev, commentating. Carlsen again found himself on the defensive in the third before the game ended in a second draw. Now 2-1 behind going into the final game, Carlsen was left in the unfamiliar territory of being a must-win situation. It didn’t happen as van Foreest got the draw to secure the match. The Dutchman said: “It’s just complete shock right now. I didn’t expect I would beat Magnus in a game let alone in a match. So it’s just shock. “I was definitely very lucky, I was lost in I think three of the four games but he has been feeling ill here and he blundered a rook in one game. “Of course, you need a lot of luck to beat Magnus but still it’s a major achievement in my career and I would rate it very highly.” The two other matches in Round 5 went to tiebreaks with Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov launching a big comeback to beat Anish Giri. Birthday boy Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 24 today, had his party ruined by Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le who won both blitz games in the tiebreaker. Round 6 of 7 starts at 18:00 CEST on Tuesday. Full coverage with commentary from the Oslo arena is available on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels. For further comments contact: Leon Watson leon@championschesstour.com About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.championschesstour.com. About Play Magnus Group Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading brands: chess24, Chessable, iChess, New In Chess, Everyman Chess, Silver Knights, Aimchess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. Play Magnus Group is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker PMG. www.pmg.me