Champion's reason: Artemyev won the Chess Stars again
The Chess Stars 5.0 tournament, which was held in the Azerbaijan Pavilion at VDNH, ended with Vladislav Artemyev's unconditional victory. The 27-year-old champion of Russia and Europe has managed to win rapid chess and blitz tournaments for the second year in a row. In rapid, his main competitor was Indian representative Raunak Sadhwani, who was half a point behind the winner. In the blitz, Sergey Karjakin, the 2016 world champion in this discipline, got the closest to Artemyev, but Vlad was able to guarantee himself the first place two rounds before the end.
With one defeat
The reigning champion of Russia Vladislav Artemyev has repeatedly noted that it is very important for him to start the tournament well. They succeeded in Moscow: three points out of three possible in rapid chess (victories over Alexandra Goryachkina, Ekaterina Lagno and Bibisara Asaubayeva). On the second day, Vladislav drew with Evgeny Tomashevsky and Teymur Radjabov, and also defeated Valentina Gunina. Before the final day, he was ahead of Sadhwani by half a point. Vlad and Raunak opened the final with a face-to-face game, but the representative of India could not create problems for the favorite in white. Next, the Russian beat Hou Yifan and almost guaranteed his victory. In the final round, it was necessary not to lose to Sergey Karjakin, which Artemyev did. As a result, there were five wins over women and four draws with men.
In the crown blitz, Artemyev had an even more solid advantage over his competitors. He scored 14.5 points out of 18, and suffered the only defeat (for the entire tournament) from his comrade Evgeny Tomashevsky in the 13th round. It should be noted that Tomashevsky replaced the Iranian Amin Tabatabai at the last moment and showed excellent results without preparation. The third place in rapid and the final fourth.
"The maximum goal was to get into the top 3, but fourth place is also a great result for me," Evgeny Tomashevsky, senior coach of the Russian youth national team, told Izvestia. — After all, I play extremely rarely now, as I told you earlier, I am fully focused on coaching (in addition to working with young talents, Evgeny also works individually with Alexandra Goryachkina, who has already qualified for the 2026 candidates tournament. - Izvestia).
Artemyev, on the other hand, was only emboldened by this defeat. In the final five rounds, he scored four victories, including deciding the fate of the second place. Sergey Karjakin had to beat Vlad in the final round to keep his chances of finishing second. Sergey took risks and was outplayed in the endgame.
— In general, my performance can be called successful, I am pleased with myself, — Vladislav Artemyev told Izvestia. — However, I was upset after the only defeat in the blitz tournament, there were negative emotions. In that game, I pressed and was very close to winning, but I made a move, let go of my hand and saw that I was "yawning" at the rook. The video showed that he really let go of his hand. This is a working moment. The most important thing is that I won quite confidently on the whole. Do I feel competitive at the Chess Stars? I guess I've already adapted to all the opponents. The composition of the tournament is quite traditional, it practically does not change. We managed to study all the opponents well. Plus, rapid chess and blitz are my forte. But again, on the second day of the blitz, Raunak Sadhwani performed very well, scoring eight out of nine points. If he had played at the same level on the first day, I could have taken second place. So there is actually competition.
In search of motivation
This is the fourth time Artemyev has won the final victory at the Chess Stars, and Karjakin won once more (in January 2023). At Chess Stars 4.0, a participant in the 2016 World Championship match became the fourth, this time the third. Sadhwani beat the senator by half a point.
"As always, it was a pleasure to play in such a stellar company," the 19—year-old Indian admitted to Izvestia. — It is an invaluable experience for me to meet such titled masters as Karjakin, Radjabov, Artemyev at the board ... Therefore, I always gladly accept an invitation to the Moscow tournament. Step by step, I'm getting to the first place. I hope that I will be able to win it next time.
Just like a year ago, Hou Yifan became the best among women. In rapid, the Chinese suffered only two defeats (from Artemyev and Sadkhvani), and eventually finished seventh, behind two-time world blitz champion Bibisara Asaubayeva. The representative of Kazakhstan beat Radjabov with black, and also won the opening game against Gunina. But in her favorite discipline, Bibisara took the last place, scoring 6 points out of 18. Hou Yifan scored 8 points, including a three-game winning streak on the second day.
Ekaterina Lagno, a three-time world champion in this discipline, also played a great blitz, eventually beating her long-term partners in the Russian national team (Goryachkina and Gunina). It should be noted that it is not easy for titled girls to play in such a tournament for a number of reasons. After all, they are used to fighting only for the first place, and when you can initially count on a maximum of sixth place, motivation is lost. Even despite the difference in prize money between the same sixth and 10th place.
By the way, the prize fund of the Chess Stars 5.0 tournament amounted to 15 million rubles. In parallel with the outstanding grandmasters, a major children's tournament was held, in which more than 100 young chess players who had passed a serious selection took part.
Final position:
Vladislav Artemyev — 21.5 (7 points in rapid + 14.5 in blitz)
Raunak Sadhwani — 17.5 (6.5 + 11)
Sergey Karjakin — 17 (5+12)
Evgeny Tomashevsky — 15 (5.5 + 9.5)
Teymur Radjabov — 15 (5 + 10)
Hou Yifan — 12 (4 + 8)
Bibisara Asaubaev — 10.5 (4.5 + 6)
Ekaterina Lagno — 10 (3 + 7)
Alexandra Goryachkina — 9.5 (3.5 + 6)
Valentina Gunina — 7 (1 + 6)
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
