Levon Aronian defeated a struggling Jan-Krzysztof Duda in Round 3 of the ongoing 8thAltibox Norway Chess Tournament at Stavanger, Norway joining Fabiano Caruana on top of the standings of the Category 21 (average Elo: 2762) event.
Aronian gradually outplayed the 22-year-old Duda from the black side of a Four Knights Defense before reeling the point after 61 moves.
Caruana, on the other hand, was held to a draw first by Aliresa Firouzja in regulation before losing the Armageddon battle to the 17-year-old prodigy.
Meanwhile, world champion Magnus Carlsen posted his first regulation win in the event by beating, albeit with difficulty, his compatriot Aryan Tari in 45 moves of a Sicilian Rauzer.
The standings after Round 3: 1-2. Aronian, Caruana, 7; 3. Carlsen, 6; 4. Firouzja, 5½; 5-6. Duda, Tari, 0.
Tari, A (2633)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B69]
Stavanger (3.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Kb1 Qb6 13.f5 0-0-0 14.Bd3 Kb8 15.Ne2 Bc8 16.Nf4 Ne5 17.Be2 d5 18.exd5 exf5 19.Nd4 Bc5 20.Rhf1 Rhe8 21.a3 Ka8 22.h3 Bd7 23.Nh5 Nc4 24.Bxc4 bxc4 25.Qc3 Rb8 26.Rf3 Re1 27.Rxe1 Bxd4 28.Qb4 Qc7 29.d6 Qc6 30.Qa5 Bxb2 31.Ka2 Be5 32.Rb1 Rxb1 33.Kxb1 Qxd6 34.Kc1 Qd4 35.Qxa6+ Kb8 36.c3 Qg1+ 37.Kd2 Qxg2+ 38.Ke3 f4+ 39.Nxf4 Bxf4+ 40.Rxf4 Qg3+ 41.Rf3 Qe1+ 42.Kd4 Qe5+ 43.Kxc4 Qe4+ 44.Kc5 Qxf3 45.Kd6 Bc8 0-1
Duda, J-K (2757)-Aronian, L (2767) [C48]
Stavanger (3.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3 Qe5+ 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 c6 11.Bd3 d5 12.Re1 Bd6 13.Bf4 Ke7 14.Kf3+ Be6 15.c4 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Bxf4 17.Kxf4 Rad8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Re2 Rd4+ 20.Kg3 Rhd8 21.Rae1 R8d6 22.f4 Kf6 23.Kf3 h5 24.Re3 Rd2 25.R1e2 Rd1 26.g3 g6 27.Re5 b6 28.b3 c5 29.c4 a5 30.Kf2 R1d3 31.R5e3 Rxe3 32.Rxe3 Rd2+ 33.Re2 Rd1 34.Kf3 a4 35.bxa4 Rc1 36.Re3 Rxc4 37.Ra3 Kf5 38.a5 bxa5 39.Rxa5 Rc3+ 40.Ke2 h4 41.gxh4 Kxf4 42.Kd2 Rh3 43.Rxc5 Rxh2+ 44.Ke1 e5 45.Rc4+ e4 46.Rc6 Kf3 47.Rf6+ Ke3 48.Kf1 Rh1+ 49.Kg2 Rxh4 50.Rxg6 Ke2 51.Kg3 Rh7 52.Rb6 e3 53.Rb2+ Kd1 54.Rb1+ Kc2 55.Ra1 Rf7 56.a4 e2 57.Kg2 Rf5 58.Ra2+ Kd3 59.Ra1 Ke3 60.Ra3+ Ke4 61.Ra1 Rd5 0-1
Firouzja, A (2728)-Caruana, F (2828) [A08]
Stavanger (3.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nb3 Nc6 8.Nc3 e6 9.e4 0-0 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Ne4 Ne5 12.h4 h6 13.Qe2 Qc7 14.Rd1 a5 15.Nd4 Bd7 16.a4 Rad8 17.Ra3 Nc4 18.Rad3 Ne5 19.Ra3 Rfe8 20.Nc3 Qc4 21.Nxd5 exd5 22.Qd2 Bg4 23.f3 Bd7 24.Bf1 Qc5 25.Qf2 Nc4 26.Rad3 Re7 27.b3 Ne5 28.R3d2 Rde8 29.Bb2 g5 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.Ba1 Qb6 32.Kg2 Qg6 33.Kg1 Qb6 34.Kg2 Qg6 35.Kg1 Qb6 36.Kg2 ½-½
Firouzja, A (2728)-Caruana, F (2828) [D04]
Stavanger (3.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.b4 a5 6.c3 axb4 7.cxb4 b6 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.a4 bxc5 11.b5 Bd6 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Nbd2 c4 14.Qc2 Qc7 15.0-0 Nbd7 16.Bc3 Nc5 17.a5 Nfe4 18.b6 Qb7 19.Bd4 Nxd2 20.Nxd2 Nd3 21.Rfb1 Ra6 22.Rb5 Rc8 23.Rab1 h6 24.g3 Be7 25.e4 e5 26.Bc3 Bc5 27.Rxc5 Nxc5 28.exd5 Qxd5 29.Qf5 Rd8 30.Rb5 f6 31.b7 Qd6 32.Qc8 Nxb7 33.Qxb7 Qc6 34.Qxc6 Rxc6 35.Rb6 Rc7 36.a6 Ra8 37.Ne4 Rca7 38.Nc5 Rc8 39.Rb5 h5 40.h4 Kh7 41.Kg2 Kg6 42.Kf3 Kf5 43.Ke3 Rc6 44.Bb4 c3 45.Bxc3 Kg6 46.Bb4 Raxa6 47.Nxa6 Rxa6 48.Rb7 Ra8 49.Ke4 Rd8 50.Bc5 Ra8 51.Kd5 Ra5 52.Ra7 Rb5 53.Kc6 Rb2 54.Kd5 Rb5 55.Kc4 Rb8 56.Rc7 Ra8 57.Kd5 Ra2 58.Ke6 Ra6+ 59.Ke7 Kf5 60.Kf7 g5 61.Be3 gxh4 62.gxh4 Kg4 63.Rc4+ Kf3 64.Kg6 e4 65.Kxh5 f5 66.Kg5 Ra5 67.Bf4 Kxf2 68.Rc2+ Kf3 69.Rc3 Ke2 70.h5 Ra1 71.h6 Rh1 72.Kxf5 Kf2 73.Kxe4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rdf2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se6 2.Rd5#; 1…Kd4 2.R2f4#; 1…Qd4+ 2.Rc5#; 1…Qe5 2.R5f4#; 1…Sd3/e2 2.R(x)e2#./PN
