Carlsen, Abdusattorov Set Up Battle Of Youth Vs. Experience In Winners Final

GMs Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov advance to the Winners Final in Division I of the Champions Chess Tour Aimchess Rapid 2023 after defeating GMs Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, respectively, in four regular games and without armageddon.

In the Losers Bracket, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga lost in game one against GM Jorden van Foreest but won on demand with Black and then won again in the armageddon to flip the match 180 degrees, eliminating the Dutch number-two. GM Wesley So eliminated GM Vladimir Fedoseev after making two draws in the regular games and then securing a draw with Black in the armageddon.

In Division II, four GMs have made it to the Winners Semifinals: GM Amin Tabatabaei will play GM Denis Lazavik, and GM Sam Sevian will play GM Gata Kamsky. The most one-sided victory in the Winners Bracket of this division was 16-year-old Lazavik's 3-0 clean sweep against the formidable GM David Paravyan. 

In Division III, the Winners Final will go down between GM Tuan Minh Le and GM Yu Yangyi. Notably, the latter defeated GM Rauf Mamedov in what is commonly thought to be a drawish endgame, with a rook and knight against rook. 

The knockout tournament continues on Wednesday, July 12, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 20:30  IST.

• Division I
• Division II
• Division III

Day two of the CCT knockouts is always bittersweet. The matches get tough and the stakes get higher, but it is also the first day that players get eliminated from the Losers Bracket. Two players would not make it to day three.

Meanwhile, commentator Tsatsalashvili provided a brief peek into the behind-the-scenes at the Oslo studio:

Day 2 @ChampChessTour 💥 pic.twitter.com/jXjifPPlv2

— Keti Tsatsalashvili (@keti_chess) July 11, 2023

Division I

Winners Bracket

Carlsen and Abdusattorov won their matches without treating the fans to the adrenaline rush of an armageddon tiebreak. They will face each other in the Winners Final on Wednesday. 

Caruana-Carlsen 1.5-2.5

The two contestants of the World Chess Championship 2018 are far from strangers. In fact, Caruana mentioned they dined together in Zagreb two days ago after the conclusion of the recent Grand Chess Tour event.

In Croatia, Carlsen defeated the American GM in their first blitz game (and went 9/9 in one day). But, perhaps more relevant for this time control, Caruana won their last rapid game in that same event. Overall, Carlsen led their rapid encounters with 18 wins, 12 losses, and 10 draws.

There was no 1...a6 by Carlsen in the first game. Instead, we saw a theoretical battle in a trendy line of the Sicilian Taimanov (with 7.g4). White sacrificed a pawn and seemed to be pushing back the black pieces on the kingside, but after the short initiative was over, White ran out of steam. 

With a comparatively safe king, Carlsen turned to the counterattack and won a high-level game, the only victory he'd need to win the match.  

Carlsen defended a worse position and then a pawn-down rook endgame in game two, saving the half-point. Game three was a well-played draw with no chances for more, while in game four Carlsen said he "played carelessly in the opening" but drew (in a position with four extra pawns). 

Carlsen, who is usually critical of his own quality of play, was particularly happy with the first game: "I think my play was a lot better today. I think the first game was really, really good," stating that the position was "far from easy to play because my king was in the center." 

He also answered a long-awaited question: why all the empty chairs in his background? His response:

Why does @MagnusCarlsen have so many chairs in his background? 😂

"On the rare occasions that I do streams, I need the chairs for the idiots in the back. @DavidHowellGM has been one of them in the past for sure!" pic.twitter.com/GAPJh3FiyH

— chess24.com (@chess24com) July 11, 2023

Abdusattorov-Aronian 2.5-0.5

Going into the match, Aronian led their rapid encounters, which included zero draws, three wins for Aronian, and one win for Abdusattorov. That turned around on Tuesday as Abdusattorov evened the score. 

Game one was a twisted kind of brilliancy. It featured the simply jaw-dropping queen sacrifice with 13.e6!! with an incredible double-check and mate if the white queen is taken. Without the engine on, the game is mesmerizing. 

Now, this is what Abdusattorov said after the game: "I played this dubious line that objectively is just lost, but in a practical game, it's just too hard." GM Mikhail Tal, the king of gambling with sacrificial chess, would surely have been proud.

Aronian had the advantage several times in game two against the solid Petroff, but it ended in a draw. The Uzbek number-one concluded the match in the third game with a fantastic final combination:

The 18-year-old Abdusattorov has proven himself against Carlsen before, defeating the world number-one in 2021 to become the world rapid chess champion and then also beating him in their first-ever classical game, earlier this year. Can he do it again?

Losers Bracket

The matches in this bracket were just two games, not four. This meant that a loss in the first game would already put a player in a must-win situation in game two for the chance to reach an armageddon tiebreaker.

So-Fedoseev 1.5-1.5

Surprisingly, So and Fedoseev have never faced each other in a recorded rapid chess game. They played matches in Fischer Random world championships in 2019 (Fedoseev won) and 2022 (So won), but never with the pieces starting on their normal squares.

So ran into trouble with the white pieces in the first game, but it ended in a draw. Fedoseev again had a winning chance in the rook endgame in game two, but it also ended in a draw. 

Amazingly, in that second game, after 49...Rg7+? the engine awards White a decisive advantage after 50.Kh4 (50.Kf2 was played). In any case, he would enjoy a pawn-up (at least) advantage in all lines.

So won the bid for the black pieces with 8:27 on the clock, while Fedoseev bid 11:24. So made a third draw to win the match.

Fedoseev exits the tournament with $7,500 and 20 tour points.

Iturrizaga-Van Foreest 2-1

This match was another question mark regarding the favorite. They had played one recorded rapid game previously, and it ended in a draw. Although Van Foreest was higher rated in classical chess, their rapid ratings (both FIDE and on Chess.com) were within 30 points of each other.

The Dutch grandmaster won the first game with the black pieces. In a proverbial tip of the hat to fans of the King's Indian Defense, he released the coiled energy of his pieces with the line-opening 28...h4! followed by a decisive attack.

But the Spanish grandmaster struck back in the next, in a queen endgame where Van Foreest allowed a queen trade into a lost king and pawn endgame.

The turnaround was completed in the armageddon game where Iturrizaga won on demand with the white pieces. They had another King's Indian, but the Spanish GM said he prepared the deviation 13.h3 (he had played 13.b3 earlier) just a few minutes before the game. 

The opening went much better this time around, and with 21.Nxe5 he sacrificed a piece for an outstanding attack. After winning material, he converted the rook endgame cleanly. 

GM Rafael Leitao annotates this marvelous attacking display, featured as our Game of the Day below.

After the game, Iturrizaga said he enjoyed the opportunity to play against the world's super-elite grandmasters. He played in three previous Play-Ins, but this was his first time making it to Division I, after an incredible down-to-the-wire match against GM Parham Maghsoodloo.

He also confirmed that he fixed his auto-queen settings before the match (after losing on time trying to underpromote yesterday).

Van Foreest finishes the knockout with $7,500 and 20 tour points.  

Division I Standings

Division II

Lazavik was featured in Division II on Monday, and he earned it again on Tuesday as the only player in the Winners Bracket to finish a match with the perfect 3-0 score. 

The second game was the most astounding, an absolute endgame gem. 

In an "equal" position, Paravyan made a losing move with 0.3 seconds on the clock and walked into a quick mate. There was also zero chance he would have found the study-like save 53....Qg5!!. But part of loving chess is exploring and perhaps over-analyzing the "what-ifs." Let's dive in:

Division II Standings

Division III

This division featured a bit of karmic relief, at least in two matches where the dangerous rapid player Mamedov was involved.

In his armageddon game against GM Alexander Grischuk in the Winners Quarterfinals, he won on time in the following position, down two queens (since no increment is added in the tiebreaker).

After that win, he went on to face Yu in the Winners Semifinals. Karma struck back in the first game as the Chinese grandmaster managed to win an endgame one can almost never win. Because the white king was cut on the edge of the board, however, there was a chance.

The tablebases allowed me to provide a "perfect" analysis of this endgame, where both players went wrong despite there being so few pieces left. Black ended up winning, but the adventures along the way are worth looking at! The late IM Mark Dvoretsky enjoyed "tragicomedies," as he called them, like this one.

Yu drew the second game to win the match.

As an honorable mention, GM Vladimir Kramnik played a creative and remarkable combination in his first game against GM Levan Pantsulaia but couldn't convert with seconds on the clock. He played the brilliant 34...Bxg3!! with 38 seconds on the clock, after 16 seconds of thought.

It simply had to be included.

Despite the tactical flair shown above, after two draws Kramnik lost the armageddon game and was eliminated from the tournament.

Division III Standings

The Champions Chess Tour 2023 (CCT) is a massive chess circuit combining the best features of previous Champions Chess Tour editions with the Chess.com Global Championship. The tour comprises six events spanning the entire year and culminating in live in-person Finals. With the very best players in the world and a $2,000,000 prize fund, the CCT is Chess.com's most important event to date.

Only grandmasters are eligible for automatic entry into the Play-In Phase. Other titled players (IM and below) can play in the Qualifiers that take place every Monday starting February 13, except on weeks with a Play-In or Knockout (21 in total). The top three players from each Qualifier will be eligible to participate in the upcoming Play-In. 

Previous reports:

• • Carlsen, Caruana Clinch Matches With Game To Spare; Abdusattorov Beats So On Demand
  • Clutch Armageddon Finishes By Carlsen, Iturrizaga Complete Division I Roster
  • Announcing Aimchess Rapid: 4th Event Of $2 Million Champions Chess Tour Kicks Off This July