Aimchess US Rapid 2021 Aug.28-Sep.5

[Metro]

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is back for the 16-player Aimchess US Rapid, the 9th and last event on the $1.6 million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour before the Final. The 3-day preliminary stage sees the players face each other once before the bottom 8 are eliminated while the top 8 advance to a knockout consisting of 2-day matches. The time control is 15 minutes for all moves, with a 10-second increment per move . The knockout match-ups consist of 4-game matches on the first two days. If the match score is 1:1, two 5+3 games are then played followed, if needed, by Armageddon, where White has 5 minutes to Black's 4 but a draw counts as a win for Black.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...-prelims/1/1/1
Official website: www.championschesstour.com

[Metro]

Players:

1	Carlsen, Magnus
2	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
3	Aronian, Levon
4	Giri, Anish
5	So, Wesley
6	Firouzja, Alireza
7	Dominguez Perez, Leinier
8	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
9	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
10	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi
11	Le, Quang Liem
12	Artemiev, Vladislav
13	Van Foreest, Jorden
14	Naroditsky, Daniel
15	Hansen, Eric
16	Liang, Awonder

[MichaelBaron]

Players:

1	Carlsen, Magnus
2	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
3	Aronian, Levon
4	Giri, Anish
5	So, Wesley
6	Firouzja, Alireza
7	Dominguez Perez, Leinier
8	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
9	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
10	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi
11	Le, Quang Liem
12	Artemiev, Vladislav
13	Van Foreest, Jorden
14	Naroditsky, Daniel
15	Hansen, Eric
16	Liang, Awonder

I think 3 of the 16 players are likely to struggle...

[Metro]

Games start 0100 AEST Sunday.

[Desmond]

I think 3 of the 16 players are likely to struggle...

2 of the 3 currently last on 1.5/5 are not surprising, Hansen and Liang, but the third perhaps is: Duda.

[Metro]

[Metro]

Leaders:

1	Artemiev, Vladislav 7½/10	
2	Carlsen, Magnus     7/ 10	
3	Aronian, Levon      7/ 10
4	Mamedyarov, Shak    6½/10

[Desmond]

Duda had a much better second day, moving from 1.5/5 to 5.5/10!

[Metro]

Qualifiers:

1	GM Artemiev, Vladislav (2704) 10½/15
2	GM Carlsen, Magnus (2847)     10
3	GM Aronian, Levon (2782)       9½
4	GM Firouzja, Alireza (2759)    9½
5	GM So, Wesley (2772)           9
6	GM Mamedyarov, Shak (2782)     9
7	GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2738)  9 
8	GM Dominguez Perez, L (2758)   8

Giri and MVL miss the cut.
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...knockout/1/1/3

[Desmond]

Giri and MVL miss the cut.

Yes, though only Giri was tied for 8th with Dominguez. From what I can gather the tiebreaks were 1. direct encouter (they drew), then 2. number of wins (Dominguez had a whopping 6 wins, vs Giri only 1 and being undefeated), then if required the further tiebreaks would have been 3. Sonneborn-Berger, then finally 4. Koya System.

[Metro]

Semi-finals:  GM Magnus Carlsen -     GM Levon Aronian

              GM Vladislav Artemiev - GM Alireza Firouzja

Personally I would like to see a Carlsen-Firouzja final.Let's see how good this 18 year old is and can be.Wesley said he was impressed with his tactical ability and resourcefulness.

[ER]

If this is Levon's last event under the Armenian flag, Magnus will make sure it's not going to be a happy farewell!

[ER]

If this is Levon's last event under the Armenian flag, Magnus will make sure it's not going to be a happy farewell!

Well!

I think 3 of the 16 players are likely to struggle...

Actually, it was much more than three!

[Metro]

Final:    GM Carlsen, Magnus 2847 - GM Artemiev, Vladislav 2704

Artemiev defeats Alireza in Armageddon.Magnus defeats Levon 3-1.I find it difficult to see Artemiev winning this however I would estimate his chances at 33%.

[ER]

Generally I am a Magnus fan, however, this time I will be barracking for Vlad (well I am our Vlad's fan too)! GO VLAD!!!