Duda Knocks Out Carlsen, To Play Mamedyarov In Final
GM Magnus Carlsen was eliminated from the Aimchess Rapid tournament on Wednesday after losing to GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the semifinals. Duda's next opponent is GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who beat GM Richard Rapport.
The games of the Aimchess Rapid knockout can be found here as part of our live events platform.
Duda-Carlsen 3-1
Duda called winning by 3-1 "a big thing" as he mentioned that he was 2-0 up in their previous match but only won in the tiebreaks. The Polish GM is becoming a true nemesis for Carlsen.
How did he do it? Well, Duda said that after the crucial second game he felt "kind of sleepy" which helped him as he "didn't feel so much pressure."
According to Carlsen, his opponent defended well in the first and third games. The world champion called the second game "obviously the decider" with "two good sequences" but "in between two major blunders" by him.
"The last game was a pity," said Carlsen about game four, which he had to win on demand. "I could have put [up] more resistance. I felt my position was improving but towards the end, I just missed a tactic, and he wrapped it up very nicely."
"Against Magnus, it's probably the most rewarding feeling you can have in chess, so I'm very happy to win the match," said Duda.
Mamedyarov-Rapport 3.5-2.5
Mamedyarov reached his first Champions Chess Tour final, and it seems deserved after his brilliant, energetic play earlier in the event. The Azerbaijani GM called his semifinal with Rapport a "very interesting match" and added: "Richard played very well. He also deserved to be in the final."
After losing the first game, with two draws to follow, Mamedyarov won game four on demand (see below) and then scored 1.5-0.5 in the blitz tiebreaker.
All games semifinals
The Aimchess Rapid, the seventh event in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, takes place October 14-20, 2022 on chess24. The preliminaries consisted of a round-robin among 16 players, from which the top eight advanced to the knockout stage. There, they play a match of four rapid games (15+10) in each round and if necessary, a blitz + armageddon tiebreak. The prize fund is $150,000.
Previous coverage
- Carlsen Knocks Out Erigaisi, Secures Champions Chess Tour Victory Early
- Carlsen, Erigaisi To Meet Again As Aimchess Rapid Moves To Knockout
- Duda New Leader At Aimchess Rapid; Gukesh Youngest Player To Beat Carlsen
- Mamedyarov's 16...Rxh2 Move Of The Year?
- Aimchess Rapid: Abdusattorov Leads, Mamedyarov Shines
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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