Levon Aronian escapes defeat

Trailing by a set, Levon Aronian missed a possible winning opportunity and then escaped defeat by perpetual checks against Teimour Radjabov in the drawn 42-move opening game of the second set of their title-clash in the $200,000 Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament.

Radjabov, who broke a string of three draws to win the fourth game of the first set on Saturday, had two rooks and a bishop against Aronian’s queen but could not find a way to escape perpetual checks.

Let off

On Saturday, Dubov won the first two games to move within a draw of taking the first set. But thereafter, Dubov continued to play as though he was facing a must-win situation, took too many chances and let Vachier bounce back to take the third and fourth games.

The results:

Final: Set Two, Game One: Levon Aronian (Arm) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze); Set One: Radjabov bt Aronian 2.5-1.5.

For third place: Set Two, Game One: Daniil Dubov (Rus) lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Set One: Dubov drew with Vachier 2-2 .