At the end of June and July 2024, the city of Moscow hosted the Chess Stars tournament with the participation of prominent Russian grandmasters and distinguished guests. This is already the fourth competition of this format (hence the official name “Chess Stars 4.0”). The previous starts took place in Crocus, which was the target of a monstrous terrorist attack, so the playing area had to be changed.
At the start line were: participant of the Candidates Tournament – 2022 in Madrid, Azerbaijani Teimur Radjabov, winner of the Aeroflot Open – 2024 Amin Tabatabai (Iran), young and strong Indian Raunak Sadhwani, former world champion and leader of the women’s world ranking Hou Yifan (China), as well as the hosts of the competition – participant of the 2016 World Championships Sergey Karyakin, European and Russian champions of different years Evgeniy Tomashevsky and Vladislav Artemyev, participants of the Candidates Tournament Ekaterina Lagno and Alexandra Goryachkina, as well as multiple world blitz champion Valentina Gunina.
A moving conversation with Valentina Gunina:
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“There is a fear that it could be worse.” Chess player Gunina: On the decisive game in life.
I would like to separately note that “Chess Stars” is not only a grandmaster tournament, but also a great holiday for children. Competitions are also held in categories up to 9, 11, 13 and 17 years old, the winners receive valuable gifts and participate in sessions with adults. This is also very important!
Two main questions
Before the start, two questions seemed to be the main ones. The first is how confident Artemyev will be in winning the tournament? Secondly, what is Karjakin’s condition now?
If we talk about the first, then Vladislav is now at the peak of his career, he is a recognized master of rapid play and has repeatedly demonstrated his strength in “Chess Stars”. But here he was able to compete with the powerful talent of Tabatabai, who defeated Alexander Grischuk and Andrei Esipenko in Aero.
Amin Tabatabai
Photo: chessstars.ru
As for Sergei, he was in excellent form at the first “Stars” (let me remind you that Karyakin was supposed to play in the Candidates Tournament, but was disqualified by FIDE for supporting the CBO, and in the end he was replaced by the Chinese Ding Liren, who miraculously became the champion). At subsequent congresses of the stars of the black and white game, Karyakin tried to keep up with Artemyev’s powerful gait. But time passed, the competitors worked on their game, and Sergei Alexandrovich was engaged in social work, which could not but affect his athletic form. His blitz rating dropped to 2646 – far from an elite figure for a player who won the world blitz championship at his peak and surpassed Carlsen.
Artemyev – beyond competition
In Chess Stars, participants had to play rapid first, and then blitz. And Artemyev, after six rounds, cleared all doubts about the winner, starting with five wins and one draw, beating both Tabatabai and Sadhwani, who were his main competitor in rapid chess.
Vladislav Artemyev (Russia) – Amin Tabatabaei (Iran) “Chess Stars 4.0”. Fast
Karjakin started well, but then lost to the Indian and eventually finished with a score of 5.5 out of 9, beating three representatives of the fair sex, which earned him a share of fourth and fifth place with Evgeniy Tomashevsky.
And the bombardment began with a real sensation: Sergey Karjakin lost three games at the start! I don’t remember that Sergei, a brilliant defensive chess player, usually suffered several defeats in a row, but here the piquancy of the situation was added by the fact that Karjakin lost to the girls – Goryachkina and Gunina!
Sergey Karyakin (Russia) – Alexandra Goryachkina (Russia) “Chess Stars 4.0”. Blitz
However, the blitz is played in two circles, the distance is quite long, and then Karjakin managed to recover and began to catch up with his opponents. First he took revenge on Sadvani, then he beat Lagno, but he never managed to return to the “fifty kopeck” level, losing in the ninth round to Artemyev, who was rushing to triumph.
But from the tenth round, Karjakin became simply unstoppable: once one of the leading lights of blitz, he destroyed one opponent after another. He beat Tabatabai, Tomashevsky, received a rich tribute from the fair sex, and in the end, without defeat, managed to score 10.5 out of 18, beating Sadvani and Radzhabov at the finish line. Iranian grandmaster Tabatabai scored 11.5 points, while Vladislav Artemyev spent the tournament as if he were training – 14.5 points and first place.
Vladislav Artemyev
Photo by: RIA Novosti
The places in the overall standings were determined based on the results of the double event (place in rapid + place in blitz). Artemyev was knocked out (1+1), Teymur Radjabov (2+4) was second, and in the fight for third place, Raunak Sadhwani (3+5) beat Sergey Karyakin (5+3) for the best result in rapid. (According to the rules, speed is a priority). Tabatabai took fifth place, Tomashevsky – sixth, but our ladies could not overtake Hou Yifan – the Chinese is seventh and the best in the improvised women’s competition.
What will happen next?
There is no doubt that Chess Stars 5.0 is ahead of us: this powerful tournament with a huge prize fund is held regularly. The only thing that confuses us is that the composition of the participants hardly changes, but I would like to see Artemyev compete with someone who can fight him on equal terms.
And of course, the fourth congress of stars showed that in terms of chess strength, Sergei Karjakin’s position is almost threatening. It is unlikely that Sergei will accept the current situation. But in order to achieve good results, it is necessary to train intensively again.
