Champions Chess Tour: Duda to face Mamedyarov in Aimchess Rapid final as Carlsen crashes out

Though Carlsen has already won the Tour title with an event to spare, this was not a great event for the World No.1 from Norway as he had lost to Arjun Erigiasi and D Gukesh in the preliminary rounds. The Duda and pair Mamedyarov, two of the most chaotic and attacking players in world chess, will go head-to-head over two days after a semifinal full of excitement in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

Polish ace Jan-Krzysztof Duda knocked World Champion Magnus Carlsen out of the Aimchess Rapid chess tournament to set up a mouth-watering final against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Though Carlsen has already won the Tour title with an event to spare, this was not a great event for the World No.1 from Norway as he had lost to Arjun Erigiasi and D Gukesh in the preliminary rounds.

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The Duda and pair Mamedyarov, two of the most chaotic and attacking players in world chess, will go head-to-head over two days after a semifinal full of excitement in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

Mamedyarov scraped through after beating Romania's new number 1 Richard Rapport in tiebreaks having come back from a point down.

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Meanwhile, Duda's match with Carlsen exploded in the first game after an opening that seemed to go wrong for the champ.

The game turned completely on its head in a matter of seconds. First, Duda had his head in his hands after being tempted by a poisoned bishop (39.Rxf5). It was a bad blunder that looked to be fatal. But then Carlsen went from completely winning to completely losing in two moves.

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Duda emerged as a pawn-up in the endgame and went on to win. The 24-year-old from Krakow was one game away from knocking out the new Tour Champion.

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Carlsen kept him waiting though. A draw in Game 3 set up a tense final game, a must-win for Carlsen with Duda only needing a draw, the organisers, Play Magnus Group, informed in a release on Wednesday.

Carlsen, with the black pieces, played a King's Indian. It was tense, but in the end, was decided by another blunder from Carlsen. The killer blow was a double attack from Duda's queen and Carlsen resigned.

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Duda said afterwards: "I'm very happy, of course. Who wouldn't want to win? Beating Magnus is probably the most rewarding feeling you can have when playing chess!"

Mamedyarov was up against the in-form Rapport who has got stronger and stronger throughout the tournament. Rapport ended the prelim stage in seventh place, just getting through to the knockout.

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He came back hard to win against Gukesh D. in the quarterfinal and started brilliantly with a win on Wednesday to put Mamedyarov on the back foot.

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Yet Mamedyarov, at 37 the oldest player in the event, found a way to get back in the match holding two draws and then taking the final game to level the score at 2-2 and take it to tiebreaks. Another win in the first blitz game and then a draw in the second saw him though.

Asked what to expect in the final, Grandmaster David Howell said: "I"ll say that Duda is a tiny favourite, he is coming off the high of beating Magnus and he also topped the prelims.

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"But Mamedyarov... I have a feeling he's going to get at least one hit in. There's going to be some crazy games in this final!"

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