Levon Aronian wrested the lead from Round 4 leader Magnus Carlsen after beating a fading Fabiano Caruana in Round 5 of the 8th Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, Norway.
Carlsen lost the lead after going down in defeat versus a determined Jan-Krzysztof Duda – his first loss in classical chess since July 2018.
Prior to his loss, the world champion has an enviable unbeaten streak of 125 classical games lasting two years, two months and 10 days. This loss dropped Carlsen to third, as Aliresa Firouzja rose to second after tournament tail-ender Aryan Tari.
Meanwhile, Caruana – who led the Category 21 (average Elo: 2762) event during the first two rounds and co-led with Aroanian in Round 3 – appears to have lost his winning touch after losing the Armageddon to Firouzja in Round 3. He lost to Carlsen in Round 4 and then to Aronian in Round 5. The American GM, however, has still bright chances to catch up during the second half of the competition.
Round 5 standings: 1. Aronian, 11; 2. Firouzja, 10; 3. Carlsen, 9; 4. Caruana, 7; 5. Duda, 4; 6. Tari, 1½.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Caruana, F (2828) [E32]
Stavanger (4.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Bg5 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Rd1 Ba6 10.Qa4 h6 11.Bh4 Qd7 12.Qc2 Qc6 13.Qxc6 Nxc6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.e3 Bxf1 16.Kxf1 Na5 17.Nf3 Nc4 18.Rb1 c5 19.Ke2 Rfc8 20.Rhc1 Nd6 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.Rc2 Kf8 23.Nd2 c4 24.Rbc1 Rab8 25.Kf3 c3 26.bxc3 Rc5 27.c4 f5 28.Ke2 Ke7 29.Kd3 Kd7 30.Rc3 Rc6 31.c5 Ne8 32.Nf3 Ra6 33.Ne5+ Ke7 34.Ke2 Nf6 35.R1c2 Nd5 36.Rd3 Rc8 37.Rb3 Rc7 38.Rc4 Ra5 39.Nd3 e5 40.Nxe5 Raxc5 41.Rxc5 Rxc5 42.Rb7+ Ke6 43.Nxf7 Ra5 44.Nd8+ Kd6 45.Rb3 Ra6 46.Nf7+ Kc5 47.Ne5 h5 48.Kd2 h4 49.Nd3+ Kc4 50.Kc2 Rd6 51.Nf4 1-0
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2757) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863) [B15]
Stavanger (5.1) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Qc2 Re8+ 9.Ne2 h5 10.Be3 Nd7 11.0-0-0 b5 12.d5 c5 13.Bxb5 Rb8 14.c4 a6 15.Ba4 Re7 16.Ng3 Ne5 17.Ne4 Reb7 18.b3 Rb4 19.Bd2 Rxa4 20.bxa4 Bf5 21.Rde1 h4 22.h3 Ng6 23.Re3 Nf4 24.g4 Bg6 25.Kd1 f5 26.Nxd6 Qxd6 27.gxf5 Bh5+ 28.f3 Qf6 29.Bc3 Qg5 30.Qe4 Qg2 31.Rhe1 Qxa2 32.Qc2 Qxc4 33.Re8+ Kh7 34.Rxb8 Qxd5+ 35.Qd2 Bxf3+ 36.Kc1 Qxf5 37.Re3 Ne2+ 38.Kb2 Nxc3 39.Qxc3 Qf4 40.Qd3+ f5 41.Rf8 Qb4+ 42.Kc1 Be4 43.Qb3 Qd4 44.Qc3 Qd6 45.Rf7 Qg6 46.Rd7 Qg1+ 47.Kb2 c4 48.Rxe4 fxe4 49.Rd4 Qf2+ 50.Qd2 c3+ 51.Kxc3 Qg3+ 52.Kb2 Qxh3 53.Rxe4 Qg3 54.Qd4 Qg2+ 55.Kc3 Qf3+ 56.Kb4 Qf8+ 57.Ka5 Qf5+ 58.Kxa6 g5 59.a5 h3 60.Re7+ Kg6 61.Qg7+ Kh5 62.Qh7+ Kg4 63.Re4+ 1-0
Caruana, F (2828)-Aronian, L (2767) [E20]
Stavanger (5.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.e4 d6 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 b4 9.Bd2 0-0 10.Ne2 Nh5 11.Be3 f5 12.dxe6 Bxe6 13.exf5 Rxf5 14.Qd2 Nd7 15.0-0-0 Qa5 16.Kb1 Bxc4 17.Nc1 Bf7 18.Qxd6 Nhf6 19.Qc6 Re8 20.Bf2 Nb8 21.Qb5 c4 22.Qxa5 Rxa5 23.Rd4 Rc8 24.b3 Nc6 25.Rxc4 Bxc4 26.Bxc4+ Kh8 27.Rd1 Re5 28.Rd6 Ne8 29.Rd2 Nc7 30.Ne2 Nb5 31.Kb2 Na3 32.Ba6 Rd8 33.Rxd8+ Nxd8 34.Kc1 Ne6 35.Bd3 Nc5 36.Kd2 Nxd3 37.Kxd3 Rd5+ 38.Nd4 Rd7 39.g4 a5 40.Bg3 Kg8 41.Be5 g5 42.Ke4 Nb1 43.Kf5 Nc3 44.Nc6 Rd3 45.Ke6 Nxa2 46.Nxa5 Rxf3 47.Bd6 Rd3 48.Nc6 Re3+ 49.Kf6 Rxb3 50.Nd4 Rh3 51.Nf5 b3 52.Ba3 Rxh2 0-1
Firouzja, A (2728)-Tari, Aryan (2633) [C53]
Stavanger (5.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 a6 9.a4 Re8 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bxe6 Rxe6 12.b4 Ba7 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Rb1 Ne7 15.d4 Ng6 16.b5 Nh5 17.Nf1 Rae8 18.bxa6 bxa6 19.a5 Qc8 20.Be3 exd4 21.cxd4 Rxe4 22.Qc6 d5 23.N1d2 R4e6 24.Qxd5 Nf6 25.Qb7 Bb8 26.Qxc8 Rxc8 27.Rb7 Ree8 28.Nb3 Ne4 29.Nc5 Nxc5 30.dxc5 c6 31.Rb6 Ne5 32.Nxe5 Bxe5 33.Rxa6 Bd4 34.Kf1 Re4 35.Bxd4 Rxd4 36.Ra1 Rc4 37.Rb6 Rxc5 38.a6 Rb5 39.Rxb5 cxb5 40.a7 Ra8 41.Ke2 Kf8 42.Kd3 Ke7 43.Kc3 Kd6 44.Kb4 Kc6 45.Ra6+ Kb7 46.Kxb5 h5 47.Rb6+ Kxa7 48.Ra6+ Kb7 49.Rxa8 Kxa8 50.Kc6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…d4 2.g8=Q#; 1…b3+ 2.Qxc3#; 1…Kd4, Bb2/xa1 2.Rxb4#; 1…Kb3 2.Rxc3#; 1…Bxd2 2.Rc8#./PN
