Azerbaijani chess grandmaster (GM) Teimour Radjabov sealed second place in the final standings of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2021, which brought together the world’s ten strongest online rapid players.
Radjabov took the $60,000 prize outclassing his French rival Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final showdown of the ten-month-long marathon.
“I am very happy to be second, it was a very hard year for me. It really brought me a lot of pleasant moments and I have great memories of the Tour,” the tournament’s official website quoted Radjabov as saying.
Before his decisive game, Teimour, 34, edged the world’s number one GM Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the Tour on October 3. However, Carlsen won the entire series after his closest rival Wesley So lost to Levon Aronian in the same round. Norwegian chess superstar received the world’s first NFT Trophy, the official prize of the most-watched chess event in history with over 100 million live views.
Meanwhile, Radjabov’s compatriot Shakhriyar Mamedyarov finished the series in tenth place. Shakhriyar and Teimour currently stand at 11th and 12th spots, respectively, in the FIDE Standard Top 100 Players chart.
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour ran over ten months from November 22, 2020, through October 4, 2021. The event featured series of ten online chess tournaments among the world’s top ten players, with the winner taking a $100,000 big prize a total prize money pool of $1.5 million.
The games have been aired live on chess24.com and social media platforms.
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