Aimchess US Rapid Day 2: Artemiev's hat-trick springs him to the top

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/08/2021

Vladislav Artemiev scored three consecutive wins to sprint to the top of table 7.5/10 at the conclusion of the tenth round at Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Aimchess US Rapid. Artemiev finished the day with a solid draw against the world champion Carlsen, who appreciated the Russian's play. Carlsen and previous day leader Aronian share the second place 7.0/10 each. Vidit started the day with a win, then he made three draws before losing the final game of the day against Leinier. He is now at 4.5/10. To qualify to the Knockout stage, he needs to have his best day of the event, today. Giri finished the day with a win after making seven draws. Round 11 starts today at 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Leinier spoils Vidit's day

Vidit Gujrathi scored 2.5/4 heading into the final round on the second day. During the final part of the game, Vidit succumbed to his opponent Leinier Dominguez Perez's attack. Although there was a tactical defense which he could not find due to being low on time.

Artemiev once again is having a great tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Round 6: Duda - Liem: 1-0

Duda started the day with an impressive victory over Liem. His king walk would make Short, proud of him.

Final position after 71.Kxb4

White made 14 moves of the king out of 71 which is like 19.72% of moves were made by the king.

Firouzja - Vidit: 0-1

Vidit once again started his day with a win, this time it was over Firouzja who could not defend his position and a blunder eventually cost him the game.

Position after 26.Re1

White needed to play 26.Qe4 to save the king from onslaught. 26.Re1 accelerated White's demise. Find out how.

Vidit Gujrathi fights the Firouzja fire | Video: ChessBase India

Naroditsky - So: 1-0

So once again started his day with a loss. It was against Daniel Naroditsky who played some sharp chess.

Position after 24...Qxb2

Black is completely lost in the above position. Find out the winning continuation for White.

Hansen - Carlsen: 0-1

Eric Hansen was completely better against Carlsen but he could not capitalize on it. An eventual blunder cost the fan favorite, 'Chessbrah' to lose.

Round 7: Liang - Artemiev: 0-1

Liang did not anticipate Artemiev's attack correctly and invited trouble by making an unforced error.

Position after 18.f4

White needed to play 18.Bc3 or Re3 and everything would have been fine. 18.f4 costs White the game. How?

Carlsen - Vachier-Lagrave: 1-0

Carlsen outplayed Vachier-Lagrave after gaining the upper hand, right out of the opening.

Round 9: Vidit - Vachier-Lagrave: 0.5-0.5

Vidit drew with Vachier-Lagrave comfortably.

Round 10: Leinier - Vidit: 0-1

Vidit got checkmated by Leinier in the final round of the day. However, there was an incredible defense in the final part of the game.

Position after 31.h5

It is quite difficult to spot especially when you are down to the last few seconds. The game continued 31...Rxh5 and 32.e5 led towards a win for White. Find out the tactical resource for Black to save the game in the above diagram.