Vladimir Kramnik wins an exciting Armageddon game against Daniil Dubov
Day 2 of the World Chess Armageddon: Asia & Oceania is over with the three-time Iranian Champion Parham Maghsoodloo and the former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik winning against the two-time Indian Champion Karthikeyan Murali and one of the most creative chess minds Daniil Dubov respectively, both in Armageddon!
Day 2 of the World Chess Armageddon: Asia & Oceania had everything! Exciting games, blunders, the highest heart rate we’ve seen so far, amazing tactics, two Armageddon games, and the former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik flagging Daniil Dubov! This is definitely something you don’t see everyday!
The first match of the day, Parham Maghsoodloo against Karthikeyan Murali, started with a surprise for the Indian GM as Parham chose to go with the Alekhine’s defense. The game evolved smoothly until Murali blundered a pawn...and another one...and another one to finally lose the game. The second game though was in favor of Murali as he managed to push his opponent to his time limits and create three unstoppable passed pawns.
The Armageddon game between the two GMs was so tensed that Parham reached a heart rate of 176 – the highest we’ve seen so far – while Murali a heart rate of 157! Parham won the game in time pressure to promote to the next phase where he will face the former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, while Murali will move to the lower bracket to face Daniil Dubov for a second chance to get back in the game!
“I felt like I played well but somehow in the Armageddon he defended well so...I just couldn’t find the finishing flow and I just got panicked and that was the turning point!” Murali confessed to Fiona Steil-Antoni in his after-game interview. “I was really nervous today! Murali is low rated in this tournament but usually these players have a lot of motivation because they want to show they are really strong and I knew that he would play very well! I was so nervous..I think I played so bad” Parham Maghsoodloo told Jan Gustafsson and Jovanka Houska at the studio.
The most anticipated match of the day was Vladimir Kramnik against Daniil Dubov. The former World Champion retired from professional chess in 2019, and he “hasn’t played OTB games in ages”, but he came to the World Chess Armageddon to deliver some exciting games, as he did today!
Game 1 was a rough one on Kramnik as he made a huge blunder to lose a rook and easily lose the game after this. As one of the most creative chess minds and Carlsen’s second in many occassions, Dubov found a brilliant tactic and left no room for counterplay.
Game 2 found Kramnik playing more steadily and pushing Dubov to his time limits. With just 8 seconds on the clock, Dubov played inaccurately to find himself not only in time trouble but with a serious positional disadvantage. Not many moves later Dubov lost on time in a lost position with Kramnik having one more chance to win the match at the Armageddon.
“Kramnik has the psychological advantage but Dubov the speed one” GM Jan Gustafsson commented before the start of their final game and it was proven that psychology prevailed speed. With a minute extra on his clock, Dubov initiated the Italian game but even if his position looked solid, he was slow on time to find himself in seconds. Kramnik starting pushing with checks until he flagged Dubov! “Dubov is not happy with the outcome there” Jan Gustafsson commented and he was absolutely right!
Tomorrow at 20:00 CET, the “losers” fight each other for a second chance in the World Chess Armageddon Series. Don’t miss Vidit Gujrathi against Yu Yangyi and Karthikeyan Murali against Daniil Dubov.
