The second half of the 8th Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, Norway started explosively on Oct. 11, with all Round 6 matches ending in decisions that produced a surprise leader.
Aliresa Firouzja overwhelmed tournament tailender Aryan Tari in 34 moves from the black side of an Exchange Caro-Kann. The win enabled the 17-year-old Firouzja to grab the pole position after erstwhile leader Levon Aronian got bashed in 38 moves by Fabiano Caruana also from the blackside of a c3-Sicilian. The win ended Caruana’s two-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, world champion Magnus Carlsen regained second place by crushing Jan-Krzysztof Duda in just 26 moves of a Semi-Slav. Duda defeated Carlsen in the previous round, ending the world champion’s unbeaten streak of 125 classical games that lasted all of two years, two months and 10 days. With four rounds to go and no possibility of ties in the final rankings, the championship remains a toss-up between the top four players – Firouzja, Carlsen, Aronian, and Caruana. In Round 7, the pairings are Caruana vs Carlsen, Firouzja vs Aronian, and Duda vs Tari.
Round 6 standings: 1. Firouzja, 13; 2, Carlsen, 12; 3. Aronian, 11; 4. Caruana, 10; 5. Duda, 4; 6. Tari, 1½.
Firouzja, A (2728)-Tari, A (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
Carlsen, M (2863)-Duda, J-K (2757) [D10]
Stavanger (6.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.b3 b6 6.Bb2 Bb7 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nge2 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Ng3 c5 11.cxd5 cxd4 12.Nce4 Bxg3 13.Nxg3 dxe3 14.dxe6 exf2+ 15.Rxf2 fxe6 16.Qe2 Nc5 17.Bc2 Ba6 18.Qe1 Qe8 19.Rd1 Rc8 20.b4 Nb7 21.Ne4 Nd5 22.Rxf8+ Qxf8 23.Bb1 Qxb4 24.Nf6+ Kh8 25.Qxe6 Ra8 26.Qxd5 1-0
Aronian, L (2767)-Caruana, F (2828) [B40]
Stavanger (6.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Nf6 6.Na3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nb5 Qd7 9.Nbxd4 a6 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.0-0 Ne7 12.Qc2 0-0 13.Bg5 Ng6 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.Rfe1 Bd7 16.g3 Rfe8 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.h4 Kh8 19.Qd2 Bf8 20.h5 Ne7 21.Bc2 Red8 22.Qd3 f5 23.g4 f6 24.g5 Qf4 25.gxf6 Qg4+ 26.Kf1 Qh3+ 27.Ke2 Nd5 28.Qd2 Bb5+ 29.Nxb5 Qg4 30.Qg5 Nf4+ 31.Ke3 Ng2+ 32.Ke2 Qc4+ 33.Bd3 Rxd3 34.Rxd3 Nf4+ 35.Ke3 Qe4+ 36.Kd2 Qxd3+ 37.Kc1 Qxf3 38.f7 Qg4 0-1
Tari, A (2633)-Firouzja, A (2728) [B13]
Stavanger (6.3) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.c3 Bg4 6.Qb3 Qc7 7.h3 Bd7 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.0-0 e6 10.Re1 Bd6 11.Bg5 0-0 12.Nbd2 Nh5 13.Qd1 f6 14.Be3 Nf4 15.Bf1 g5 16.c4 Kh8 17.Rc1 Rg8 18.Bxf4 Bxf4 19.b4 Qd6 20.b5 Ne7 21.c5 Qc7 22.g3 g4 23.hxg4 Rxg4 24.Bh3 Rg7 25.Kh1 e5 26.Bxd7 Qxd7 27.Nh2 Qh3 28.Rg1 Rag8 29.Qe2 e4 30.Rc3 Nf5 31.Nxe4 dxe4 32.Qxe4 Bxg3 33.Rg2 Re7 34.Qb1 Rge8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc7 2.Sb6#; 1…Rb7 2.Bxb7#; 1…Rxd8, Rc6/xa6 2.Se7#; 1…Sxd8 2.Re5#; 1…Sd4/c3 2.Re(x)d4#./PN
