Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Leinier Dominguez – top four players of the United States –played an online tournament on the lichess.org server with a unique scoring format.
The tournament which ended on May 29 was unique in that its format awards the normal points in a 12-game knockout match (time control 10 minutes plus 10 seconds a move) but doubles these for games 5 and 6 and then trebles them for the final games 11 and 12.
In Day 1 of the competition, Caruana bulldozed Dominguez Perez, 15-3, while Wesley squeezed past Nakamura, 9½-8½, to arrange a championship match with Caruana.
In the end, Wesley, by virtue of the greater number of Clutch points, won the event after the two tied 9-9 in regulation.
Although unique, this format created by GM Maurice Ashley – particularly that part where 3 points are awarded to a win in the final stages of a match cycle to make the duels “tenser” – seems rather stupid to me, I’m sorry to say. As us old fogeys used to point out, “if the system ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
So, Wesley (2770)-Nakamura, H (2736) [E06]
lichess.org (1.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Bg5 Bc6 10.e3 b5 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Nc3 Qe8 13.Rfd1 g6 14.d5 exd5 15.Nd4 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Nd7 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 Nc5 19.Bxa8 Nb3 20.Rdd1 Nxa1 21.Rxa1 Qxa8 22.axb5 a5 23.Qxc4 Rb8 24.h4 h5 25.e4 Re8 26.Qxc7 Qxe4 27.b6 Re7 28.Qc5 Kh7 29.Qxa5 Qc6 30.Qb4 Rd7 31.Qa4 Qb7 32.Qb3 Re7 33.Qb4 Rd7 34.Qc5 Rd2 35.b4 Qe4 36.Qc7 Qf3 37.Rf1 g5 38.b7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
lichess.org (1.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bf4 0-0 7.e3 c5 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.a3 Nc6 10.Qc2 Qa5 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.g4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Rd8 14.Rxd8+ Qxd8 15.g5 Nh5 16.Rd1 Bd7 17.gxh6 Nxf4 18.exf4 Qc7 19.Qe4 Na5 20.Ne5 Be8 21.Rd7 Qc5 22.b4 Qxf2 23.Rxe7 Qg1+ 24.Nd1 Qxh2 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-So, Wesley (2770) [A28]
lichess.org (1.8) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.d3 d5 8.Be2 0-0 9.h3 e4 10.dxe4 Nxe4 11.Qa3 Qxa3 12.bxa3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Rd8 14.Bb2 Na5 15.Be2 c5 16.Ne5 Be6 17.Bf3 Nxf2 18.Bc3 Nxh1 19.Bxa5 b6 20.Bc3 Bd5 21.e4 Bb7 22.Ke2 Ng3+ 23.Ke3 f5 0-1
Caruana, F (2835)-So, Wesley (2770) [C84]
lichess.org (2.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Ne2 d5 12.Ng3 Qd6 13.Qe2 Nd7 14.a4 b4 15.b3 Rf7 16.Bb2 Raf8 17.Rae1 Qc5 18.Qd1 Qb6 19.d4 exd4 20.exd5 exd5 21.Re6 Nc5 22.Bxd4 Bd6 23.Be3 Nd8 24.Re5 c6 25.Rh5 Nde6 26.Nh4 g6 27.Nxg6 hxg6 28.Qg4 Rg7 29.Rh6 Qc7 30.Bxc5 Nxc5 31.Rxg6 Bxg3 32.hxg3 a5 33.Re1 Qf7 34.Rxg7+ Qxg7 35.Qh3 Qh8 36.Qg4+ Qg7 37.Qh3 Ne4 38.Qe6+ Qf7 39.Qg4+ Qg7 40.Qe6+ Kh7 41.Qh3+ Qh6 42.Qd7+ Kh8 43.Re2 Qc1+ 44.Kh2 Qh6+ 45.Kg1 Nxf2 46.Rxf2 Qc1+ 47.Kh2 Rxf2 48.Qh3+ Kg7 49.Qd7+ Rf7 50.Qg4+ Kh7 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Caruana, F (2835) [C53]
lichess.org (2.10) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.0-0 d6 7.a4 h6 8.Re1 Ba7 9.Nbd2 g5 10.b4 Nh7 11.Nb3 g4 12.Nfd2 Qf6 13.d4 Ng5 14.b5 Ne7 15.bxa6 bxa6 16.Nf1 h5 17.Qd3 Rg8 18.Bxg5 Rxg5 19.Bxa6 Bd7 20.Bb7 Rd8 21.Qa6 Bb8 22.Ne3 h4 23.Nc5 g3 24.fxg3 hxg3 25.Nxd7 Rxd7 26.Rf1 Qh8 27.h3 exd4 28.Nd5 Nxd5 29.Bxd5 dxc3 30.Qc8+ Rd8 31.Bxf7+ Ke7 32.Qe6+ 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-So, Wesley (2770) [C65]
lichess.org (2.11) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Nd7 7.Nc4 f6 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 Bd6 10.0-0 Nb6 11.Na5 Qe7 12.Re1 Rb8 13.h3 Qf7 14.Be3 exd4 15.Nxd4 Qg6 16.Qf3 Nd7 17.Qg4 Qxg4 18.hxg4 Ne5 19.f3 g6 20.Rad1 Bd7 21.Nc2 b6 22.Nb3 c5 23.Nc1 a5 24.Ne2 a4 25.Nf4 Kg7 26.Nd5 Be6 27.b3 axb3 28.axb3 Ra8 29.Bf2 Ra2 30.Nce3 b5 31.c4 b4 32.Bh4 g5 33.Bf2 Rfa8 34.Nb6 R8a3 35.Nf5+ Bxf5 36.exf5 Rxb3 37.Nc8 Rbb2 38.Rf1 Nxc4 39.Rd3 b3 40.Rc3 Rxf2 41.Rxf2 Ra1+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ka5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…f6 2.Sxg7#; 1…f5 2.Qa6#; 1…Sf6 2.Re7#; 1…Se5 2.f5#; 1…Qa1 2.Sxd4#./PN
