Mamedyarov has played brilliant and inspiring chess so far in this event but had no answer to Duda’s positive play. After a draw in the first game, Duda struck hard and fast to go 1-0 up with the black pieces. Grandmaster David Howell pointed to an exchange of queens prompted by Duda’s 27. Qxe5 and then a sharp tactic that followed as the key moment. It left Mamedyarov’s position in tatters and Duda duly converted. International Master Jovanka Houska said: “Duda played unorthodox chess, it was a bit weird, but he managed to confuse Mamedyarov and at the end when it got sharp he just played perfectly.”

In the third game, Duda had one moment when he could have been tempted to take white’s knight on a4, but instead went for the safe approach to simplify down to a draw with 24… Qf7. It proved the right decision. Time was running out for Mamedyarov – he had only the last game to level the score – and in Mamedyarov mode he went all in. Playing a risky opening with black, the wily 37-year-old got a promising position but then it started going wrong and Duda went after his key weakness on d6 with 23. Rb6 which led to 25. Rxb7. From then on, Mamedyarov’s position crumbled and Duda emerged winner of the game and the mini-match.

Duda, playing from his hometown of Krakow, now has one hand on the title, but Mamedyarov will still have a chance to hit back tomorrow and force a playoff. Duda said: “I’m very happy. Actually, I liked the second game from the aesthetic point of view.”

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 with 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 with 41…Ke6? instead of 41…Kc6!

Duda emerged 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.

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. Carlsen, with the black pieces, played a King’s Indian. It was tense, but in the end decided by another blunder from Carlsen. The killer blow was a double attack from Duda’s queen with 33.Qf3! and Carlsen resigned.

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 form horse Rapport who has got stronger and stronger throughout the tournament. Rapport ended the prelim stage in seventh place, just getting through to the knockout. He came back hard to win against Gukesh D in the quarter-final and started brilliantly with a win today to put Mamedyarov on the back foot.

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 tomorrow’s 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. 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!”

The two-day final begins tomorrow at 18:00 CEST. Every move will be streamed live and for free on chess24.com/tour and on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Going into today’s quarter-finals, Polish ace Jan-Krzysztof Duda was the only player who could catch him yet needed Indian teen Arjun Erigaisi to knock out Carlsen and then to win November’s final Major of the season. With that $250,000 event to go, Carlsen’s total earnings will undoubtedly rise.

But the 31-year-old had to work in the opening game of his quarter-final match as Erigaisi played some of his best chess against the champ to go 3 pawns up and set up what should have been a seemingly easy win. Carlsen, however, never gives up and opened his full box of endgame tricks to claw his way back into the game. Erigaisi wilted under the pressure and after 137 moves Carlsen escaped with a draw. Carlsen, as he so often does, then took advantage of the Indian teen’s ebbing confidence to follow-up with two crushing wins.

It ensured Carlsen’s relatively smooth passage into the Aimchess semi-final – where the Tour Champ and Duda will meet – and decided the 2022 Tour Champion. Duda, playing from Krakow, dominated the prelim stage and carried his form into the knockout as he also beat his Indian opponent, Vidit Gujrathi, 2.5-0.5 with a game to spare. Duda said: “I wouldn’t call it easy, I think it was unexpected that I won the match in three games.”

With Duda and Carlsen facing off in one semi, the other will be fought by Azerbaijani ace Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Romania’s number 1 Richard Rapport with both overcoming teenage prodigies. Rapport beat Gukesh D who, like Erigaisi, scored a win against Carlsen in the prelim stage. It took Rapport 167 moves to triumph in an epic final game to deny his teenage opponent tiebreaks.

Meanwhile, the experienced Mamedyarov knocked out the World Rapid Champion Nordibek Abdusattorov 2.5-0.5. For Gukesh and Abdusattorov their runs to the last eight were hugely-impressive.

The semi-finals begin tomorrow at 18:00 CEST. Every move will be streamed live and for free on  chess24.com/tour  and on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

The 24-year-old also goes into the next phase having moved up to second in the overall Meltwater Champions Chess Tour rankings. He is now the only player left who can catch World Champion Magnus Carlsen. In typically understated fashion, Duda – the only player left capable of catching Carlsen – said afterwards: “I’m fairly satisfied.”

Aimchess Rapid all information / Pairings & Schedule / LIVE games

Meanwhile, Dutch No.1 Giri suffered the heartbreak of a last-gasp loss that killed his chances of making the cut. Giri went into the final prelim round needing just a draw to secure his passage. Only India’s No.2 Vidit Gujrathi could stop him with a win and Giri losing.

But Giri collapsed against Arjun Erigaisi and then had to endure seeing Vidit crash through against David Anton and leapfrog him into eighth place. Vidit finished having won three of his last four games.

It was an unexpected turn of events and came after Giri had accepted a series of cautious draws, notably against the American Daniel Naroditsky in Round 12, when he could have pushed harder for wins. Giri admitted afterwards that he “should have played more ambitiously with both colours”.

Vidit, playing from Nashik in northern India, was overjoyed with his first knockout appearance in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

“It’s good to know how it feels,” he said. “I’m thrilled that I’m in the quarter-finals. Actually, it was completely unexpected. In fact, I had already made some plans for tomorrow that were not related to chess, so thanks to Arjun!”

Apart from the battle between Giri and Vidit for the final spot, results elsewhere had meant the final round was relatively straight forward with seven spots already decided. 

Gukesh D, the 16-year-old Indian wonderkid who stunned Carlsen in Round 9, finished second on 27/45 edging out the more experienced Shakhriyar Mamedyarov by virtue of having beaten him in their head-to-head and Arjun Erigaisi, who also beat Carlsen.

The World Champion, meanwhile, finished a lowly fifth on 26/45, but will no doubt regroup for the quarter-final stage where he faces Erigaisi. The teenager Nordibek Abdusattorov, who led the first two days, and Richard Rapport complete the quarter-final line-up.

The award-winning Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, the world’s leading year-round chess circuit, reaches its penultimate tournament with the Aimchess Rapid. The event features 16 players in a round-robin prelim stage before the field is cut to eight and knockouts begin. The Aimchess Rapid is the last “Regular” tournament of the 2022 season with a prize pot of $150,000 before the end-of-season final event starts on November 14. Every move will be streamed live and for free on chess24.com/tour and on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Commentating, International Master Lawrence Trent said: “The opening actually went very well for Magnus and he was kind of cruising. “But this move came out of nowhere, literally it was completely unexpected.” Speaking of Carlsen, Trent said: “He’s a man who, let’s put it this way, he doesn’t like to lose so he’s going to have to regroup quite quickly.”

Gukesh was 16 years 4 months 20 days while the previous record before Gukesh’s win was Praggnanandhaa’s 39-move victory over Carlsen in the Airthings Masters in February. Pragg, who is not playing in this event, was 16 years 6 months and 10 days old. Despite the win, Gukesh wasn’t impressed with his own play. “Obviously, beating Magnus is always special but I was not really very proud of that game,” he said.

However, he did crack a smile when told he was the youngest player to beat Carlsen as World Champion. But the chess gods are always cruel. In the next game, Gukesh immediately came back down to earth when he lost in 42 moves to the high-flying Pole Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who ended the day on top of the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, in Round 11 Carlsen came up against another wonderkid, the 18-year-old Uzbek World Rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov who led the first two days. After a crazy game, which IM Trent described as “alien chess”, it ended in a draw. With a loss and two draws, it took until his last game of the day for Carlsen to record his first win, over the Swede Nils Grandelius. Carlsen, who finished with 21/36pts, is woefully out of form by his own high standards.

On his losses to young Indian’s Carlsen said: “Pragg is the only one I’ve lost multiple times to. As for Arjun and Gukesh: Arjun I’ve generally beaten; Gukesh very similar. “I think Gukesh has been extremely impressive in classical chess recently. Perhaps this rapid win wasn’t his proudest effort, even though getting a win is always nice.”

Going into the final round, Round 12 of 15 in the prelim stage, it was Duda making the running 3pts ahead of the pack after three straight wins. That run was brought to an end by Abdusattorov, and a loss against the Uzbek left Duda one point ahead of the on-form Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Both Duda and Mamedyarov are sure to progress into the event’s knockout.

Going into tomorrow’s final three rounds of the prelim, the stage is set for a big battle to make the top eight and avoid the cut. Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Richard Rapport, Daniel Naroditsky and Vidit Gujrathi are right in the thick of it.

Rankings after Day 3:

The award-winning Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, the world’s leading year-round chess circuit, reaches its penultimate tournament with the Aimchess Rapid. The event features 16 players in a round-robin prelim stage before the field is cut to eight and knockouts begin. The Aimchess Rapid is the last “Regular” tournament of the 2022 season with a prize pot of $150,000 before the end-of-season final event starts on November 14. Every move will be streamed live and for free on chess24.com/tour and on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

It was a measure of revenge for the talented teenager after his defeat to Carlsen in the Julius Baer Generation Cup final. That final was something of an anti-climax as Erigaisi collapsed, but this time the “Iceman” stayed cool and calm. Erigaisi said afterward: “That felt really good, I was really happy with the game.”

Carlsen, playing from a log cabin in Are, Sweden, immediately bounced back to beat Erigaisi’s fellow Indian Vidit Gujrathi in Round 8 and end the day in joint-second on 16/24 with the exciting Azerbaijani Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov.

Carlsen said: “I thought my performance yesterday was maybe the worst I’d played on one day on the Tour… Today wasn’t great either, but it was a little bit better.” See the complete interview here

The first round of the day, Round 5 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event’s prelim stage, was “savage”, according to IM Lawrence Trent in the commentary box, as all eight games ended with wins.

Vincent Keymer got off to a great start with a win against Mamedyarov. Azerbaijan’s number 1 overextended himself by placing his queen deep into Keymer’s position before the young German activated his own queen and went on the attack himself.

Mamedyarov then went on a run scoring three straight wins – including a quickfire 16-move win over Richard Rapport. Mamedyarov ended the day level with Carlsen and looking a shoe-in for the quarter-finals.

Abdusattorov, the World Rapid Champion and overnight leader, lost his first game of the day to the Indian Vidit Gujrathi. With Carlsen winning, it allowed the champion to briefly draw level on the leaderboard. 

In Round 6, Abdusattorov capitalised as another young Indian star Gukesh D threw away a winning position. As Carlsen lost to Erigaisi, Abdusattorov dispatched Pentala Harikrishna to retake the sole lead. A draw in the final round of the day against Anish Giri secured the lead for the second day running.

The award-winning Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, the world’s leading year-round chess circuit, reaches its penultimate tournament with the Aimchess Rapid. The event features 16 players in a round-robin prelim stage before the field is cut to eight and knockouts begin. The Aimchess Rapid is the last “Regular” tournament of the 2022 season with a prize pot of $150,000 before the end-of-season final event starts on November 14.

Replay the game: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Magnus Carlsen 1-0