THE first set of the two-set finals match between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in the 2021 New In Chess Classic – the fifth event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour being played at the chess24.com server – ended in favor of Carlsen who won a tense struggle, 3-1.
With the victory, Carlsen needs only to draw the second set to win his first Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title. Nakamura, on the other hand, needs to win to take the match to a tiebreaker. The two started their four-game first set with two draws, before Carlsen broke through in the third game with a bishop sacrifice and won a protracted 90-move Giuoco Piano endgame. Needing to win the fourth game to level the count, Nakamura appeared poised for a comeback until an error cost him the game.
In the battle for 3rd place, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov traded wins throughout the first set for a 2-2 tie. The two played a lively, action-packed first set match that took only 118 moves for all four games to finish.
The winner of the event will receive $30,000, with the runner-up pocketing $15,000. The 3rd placer gets $8,500, while the 4th placer takes home $6,500.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2847) [D11]
chess24.com (3.14) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 e6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Rd1 Re8 11.Qe2 Qe7 12.Bd2 dxc4 13.Bxc4 e5 14.dxe5 Qxe5 15.g3 b5 16.Bb3 a5 17.Bc2 Qe6 18.Kg2 a4 19.a3 Ne5 20.Bb1 Qe7 21.Be1 Rad8 22.Ba2 Ned7 23.Qc2 Be5 24.Rac1 Nc5 25.Ne2 Rxd1 26.Rxd1 Qa7 27.Rc1 Ne6 28.f3 Nd5 29.Qxc6 Nxe3+ 30.Kh1 Qb8 31.Bf2 Bxb2 32.Bxe3 Bxc1 33.Bxc1 Rc8 34.Qe4 Qd6 35.Be3 Qd1+ 36.Ng1 Qc2 37.Qd5 Rd8 0-1
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-Aronian, L (2781) [D39]
chess24.com (3.11) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qa5 9.Bxf6 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 Qxc3+ 11.Kf1 gxf6 12.Rc1 Qa5 13.Qf3 Ke7 14.a4 Qxa4 15.e5 fxe5 16.Qh5 Nc6 17.Qg5+ Kf8 18.Nf5 Rg8 19.Qh6+ Ke8 20.Qf6 Qb4 21.h4 Rg6 22.Qh8+ Qf8 23.Qxh7 exf5 24.h5 Rh6 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [B40]
chess24.com (3.12) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Ne4 Qc7 9.f4 Rb8 10.a3 Qb6 11.Qf3 Be7 12.c4 f5 13.Nd2 Ne3 14.Bd3 g5 15.g3 gxf4 16.gxf4 Rg8 17.Nf1 Ng2+ 18.Ke2 Qd4 19.Ng3 Rxb2+ 20.Bxb2 Qxb2+ 21.Kf1 Nh4 0-1
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-Aronian, L (2781) [A07]
chess24.com (3.13) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nfd7 6.Qxc4 Bg7 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d4 Nb6 9.Qc2 0-0 10.Rd1 Bf5 11.Qd2 Qc8 12.Nc3 Rd8 13.Qf4 h6 14.h4 a5 15.a3 Bc2 16.Rd2 Bb3 17.Rd3 Bc4 18.Rd1 Nxd4 19.Rxd4 Rxd4 20.Nxd4 e5 21.Nf5 Qxf5 22.Qxf5 gxf5 23.Bxb7 Rd8 24.Be3 e4 25.Rc1 Bxc3 26.Rxc3 Bxe2 27.Rxc7 Rd1+ 28.Kh2 Nc4 29.g4 Nxe3 30.fxe3 Bxg4 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 f4 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [A49]
chess24.com (3.14) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.a4 Nbd7 7.a5 c5 8.c4 b6 9.axb6 Qxb6 10.Nc3 Rb8 11.Ra3 a6 12.d5 Ng4 13.Qc2 Nde5 14.Nd2 f5 15.e3 Qd8 16.Ne2 g5 17.f4 Nf7 18.Nf3 h6 19.b3 e5 20.dxe6 Bxe6 21.h3 Nf6 22.Rxa6 Ne4 23.Nd2 Nf6 24.Bb2 Re8 25.e4 Bc8 26.Raa1 fxe4 27.fxg5 Nxg5 28.h4 Nh3+ 29.Kh1 Qe7 30.Rae1 Ng4 31.Nf4 Ngf2+ 32.Kh2 Ng4+ 33.Kh1 Nhf2+ 34.Kg1 Bb7 35.Re2 e3 36.Nd5 Qf7 37.Ne4 Bxd5 38.Nxd6 Bxg2 39.Kxg2 Qe6 40.Rfxf2 Nxf2 41.Rxe3 Qxd6 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qf3 2.Qxf3#; 1…Qd5+ 2.Qxd5#; 1…Qc6+ 2.Qxc6#; 1…Qb7+ 2.Qxb7#; 1…Kg1 2.Qa1#./PN
