GM Magnus Carlsen got 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.

Duda-Carlsen 3-1

Duda called winning by 3-1 “a big thing” as he mentioned that in their previous match he was 2-0 up 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” from him.

“The last game was a pity,” said Carlsen about game four, which he had to win on demand. “I could have put 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 feels 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.

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