CCT Finals R4: Artemiev beats Carlsen

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/09/2021

Vladislav Artemiev handed Magnus Carlsen his first match defeat of the event in the fourth round of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. The Russian remained undefeated and did not require tie-breaks. Radjabov, Aronian, Nakamura and Mamedyarov are the remaining victors of the round with only Nakamura playing the sole tie-breaks of the day as he drew all four Rapid games against So. Carlsen is still in the lead 23.5 points followed by So 19.5 points, Aronian 15 points. Radjabov and Nakamura at 12 points each respectively. Round 5 starts tonight at 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE

So remains in the hunt

Four matches in the fourth round ended in the Rapid time control, without the need of tie-breaks.

Carlsen lost his first match in the Finals against Artemiev | Photo: FIDE

Radjabov - Duda: 2.5-1.5

Radjabov for the first time in this event started his day with a win. He won the first game against Duda by grinding a rook and opposite color bishop endgame.

Despite getting a better position out of the opening, Duda was unable to capitalize on his advantage and the game ended in a draw.

Duda struck back in the third game to level the score 1.5-1.5

Radjabov - Duda, Game 3

Position after 54.Be6

Find out why 54.Be6 is a big mistake.

Duda had a good position in the middlegame which he did not capitalize. Radjabov eventually took advantage of Duda's mistake and won the game. Thus he won the match 2.5-1.5 which means Radjbov got 3 points and Duda got zero.

Giri - Aronian: 1-3

Giri for the first time in this event, started the day with a win, however he lost the match.

Giri - Aronian, Game 1

Position after 20...c5

20...c5 is a mistake for Black. Find out why.

Aronian won the next three games convincingly to win the match 1-3 and score 3 points. Giri made zero points.

Nakamura - So: 4-2

After making four draws in the Rapid with three of them ending in just 14 moves, Nakamura won both Blitz tie-breaks to win the match 4-2 and score 2 points. So got 1 point.

Carlsen - Artemiev: 1-3

After a draw in the first game, Carlsen made a dubious choice of taking Artemiev's rook for his bishop and knight.

Carlsen - Artemiev, Game 2

Position after 29.Nc7

29.Bxe6 would have kept the position balanced. However, the world champion made a questionable decision of playing 29.Nc7 and paid a heavy price for it.

Artemiev was completely winning the third game. However, he decided not to press further and repeat moves instead.

Artemiev - Carlsen, Game 3

Position after 27...Kg8

White decided to repeat moves 28.Bh6 Kh7 29.Bg5 Kg8 30.Bh6 and make a draw. The position definitely had a lot to offer for White. What should have White done instead?

Carlsen started well in the fourth game. However, he had a tactical oversight which gave Artemiev a decisive advantage. The world champion got an opportunity to equalize which he did, until he blundered his queen to lose the game and the match. Artemiev scored 3 points and Carlsen got zero.