New Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Event Starts on Chess24.com

Vladislav Artemiev is pursuing the leader.

The Aimchess US Rapid, the final 9th event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, has begun on the Chess24.com. Traditionally, the 3-day preliminary stage sees 16 players face each other once before the bottom 8 are eliminated while the top 8 advance to a knockout consisting of 2-day matches.

Five rounds were played on the first match day. Levon Aronian (Armenia) has taken the sole lead with 4 points. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) are half a point behind.

Standings after 5 rounds:

1. Levon Aronian (Armenia) - 4 points
2-3. Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) - 3.5
4-7. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Wesley So (USA), Alireza Firouzja (France), Leinier Dominguez (USA) - 3
8. Anish Giri (Netherlands) - 2.5
9-13. Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), Daniel Naroditsky (USA), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (India), Jorden Van Foreest (Netherlands), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) - 2
14-16. Eric Hansen (Canada), Awonder Liang (USA), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) - 1.5.

Rounds 6-10 of the prelim stage will be held on the 29th of August.

Games online

Official website