Radjabov overtakes Wesley So at 2nd, Carlsen absorbs another loss

October 5 ------ Teimour Radjabov stretched his winning streak to overtake Wesley So while Levon Aronian handed Magnus Carlsen a second straight defeat in the 2021 Champions Chess Tour (CCT) Finals on Sunday, October 3 (Monday, October 4, Philippine time).

Showing solid form, Radjabov trounced fellow Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 3-1, for his fifth straight victory and displaced So at second spot with 24 points after the eighth round. In the blitz playoff, the Filipino-American could only tally 23.5. Carlsen, the 10-year world champion, has already clinched the overall CCT crown with 28.5 points despite bowing to Radjabov in the seventh round on Saturday. Although So halted his two-match skid with a 1.5-0.5 triumph over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Aronian pounced on a relaxed Carlsen to prevail, 3-1, to line himself in contention for second with 21 points.

Radjabov needs only to beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by way of the rapid section in the ninth and last round on Monday to complete his amazing climb from three straight losses. So faces a tougher task as he'll be pitted against fellow three-event winner Carlsen in this year's CCT. Aronian can even relegate So, the 2021 Grand Chess Tour overall winner, to fourth place with a victory over Mamedyarov coupled by a shutout loss by So.

Other final round matches pit Duda against Hikaru Nakamura, who tamed Vladislav Artemiev (1.5-0.5) in the blitz playoff, and Anish Giri, who subdued Vachier-Lagrave, 2.5-1.5, in the eighth round.

Source: rappler.com