Hostilities in Group B of the ongoing Chessable Masters at the chess24.com playing server started with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri emerging on top of the standings after a torrid first half of play.
After five rounds of the double round robin competition, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri are leading the six-player field, but a whisker away are Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Liren Ding. The sixth player, Teimour Radjabov, has yet to find his bearings and so languishes at the cellar. Caruana’s erratic moments against Vachier-Lagrave and Giri deprived him the opportunity to lead the group. Ding was a bit unimpressive as he contented himself with drawing all his first half games.
The top four finishers of this group will join the top four finishers in Group A for the knockout phase of this event, which is the third leg of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
The Group B standings after Round 5: 1-2. Vachier-Lagrave, Giri, 3; 3-5. Ding, Nepomniachtchi, Caruana, 2½; 6. Radjabov, 1½.
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Radjabov, T (2765) [E18]
Chessable Masters GpB chess24.com (1.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.e4 Nd7 11.Rad1 a6 12.d5 Bf6 13.Nd4 Bxd4 14.Qxd4 e5 15.Qd2 Qe7 16.f4 Rfe8 17.f5 Nf6 18.h3 b5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.a3 Ba6 21.Na2 b4 22.Nxb4 Bxf1 23.Rxf1 Nd7 24.Qe3 h6 25.h4 Qf8 26.Rc1 Nc5 27.Nc6 Nd7 28.b4 h5 29.Ra1 Nb8 30.Na5 Nd7 31.Bf1 Rxa5 32.bxa5 Ra8 33.a6 Nc5 34.Be2 Nxa6 35.Bxh5 Nc5 36.Rb1 Ra4 37.Rb4 Rxb4 38.axb4 Nd7 39.Qa7 Qd8 40.Kg2 Kf8 41.Be2 Nf6 42.Kf3 g6 43.fxg6 Qc8 44.Kg2 fxg6 45.Bf3 Qd8 46.Qe3 Kg7 47.Qg5 Qe8 48.g4 Qf7 49.Qc1 Qd7 50.Kg3 Ng8 51.g5 Qd8 52.Bg4 Ne7 53.Be6 Qf8 54.b5 Qa8 55.Qf1 Qe8 56.Qf6+ Kh7 57.h5 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [A22]
chess24.com (2.3) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.d3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Rc1 Re8 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.0-0 Bf8 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.a3 h6 13.Bd2 Qd8 14.Ne4 a5 15.Nc5 a4 16.Qc2 Ra7 17.Rfe1 Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.e4 dxe3 20.Bxe3 c6 21.Ne4 Be6 22.Bc5 Ra8 23.Bxf8 Rxf8 24.Nc5 Bc8 25.Re4 Re8 26.Rce1 Rxe4 27.Rxe4 Ra5 28.h3 Kf8 29.d4 Ra8 30.Re1 g6 31.Qd2 Kg7 32.Qf4 Nd7 33.Ne4 Ra5 34.Nd6 Nf6 35.Re8 Qd7 36.Rxc8 g5 37.Qd2 Ra6 38.Qb4 c5 39.dxc5 Rxd6 40.cxd6 Qxc8 41.Bxb7 Qxh3 42.Qxa4 h5 43.Qd4 Qd7 44.Bf3 h4 45.gxh4 gxh4 46.Qxh4 Qf5 47.Kg2 Kf8 48.a4 Qg6+ 49.Qg3 Qf5 50.b4 Nd5 51.Qg4 Qe5 52.Qc8+ Kg7 53.Qg4+ Kf8 54.d7 Ke7 55.Qe4 Qxe4 56.Bxe4 Nxb4 57.Bf5 Nc6 58.Kf3 Kd6 59.Kf4 f6 60.Be4 Nd8 61.Kf5 Kxd7 62.Kf6 Kd6 63.a5 Ne6 64.a6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Caruana, F (2835) [D11]
chess24.com (3.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Nbd2 Rd8 11.Nc4 Qa6 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Rfe1 h6 14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Nce5 Qa4 16.Bd2 Be4 17.Qxa4 Nxa4 18.b3 Nb6 19.Ba5 Rd5 20.Bc3 c5 21.e3 Rdd8 22.Red1 Nbd5 23.Ba5 Rdc8 24.Rac1 b6 25.Be1 a5 26.a4 Rc7 27.Nc4 Rac8 28.dxc5 Bxc5 29.Nd4 Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Bxd4 31.Rxd4 Nd7 32.e4 N5f6 33.Rcd1 Rb8 34.f3 Kh7 35.g4 e5 36.Rd6 Nc5 37.Nxe5 Nxb3 38.h4 b5 39.g5 Nh5 40.Nd7 Rbc8 41.axb5 a4 42.b6 Rb7 43.Bb4 Nf4+ 44.Kg3 Ne6 45.Kg4 Rc2 46.g6+ Kxg6 47.Nf8+ Kf6 48.e5+ Kxe5 49.R6d5+ Kf6 50.Rf5# 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Giri, A (2764) [C65]
chess24.com (5.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 d6 7.c3 0-0 8.Nbd2 g5 9.Bg3 Nh5 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.d4 exd4 12.Nxd4 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Qf6 14.Qh5 Bxd4 15.cxd4 Qxd4 16.Qxh6 Qg7 17.0-0-0 Rb8 18.e5 dxe5 19.Ne4 f6 20.f3 Bf5 21.Qxg7+ Kxg7 22.Nc5 Rb5 23.Na4 Rb4 24.b3 g4 25.Rd2 Rfb8 26.Nc5 Rc4+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc7!. Black’s futile options are 1…Kxd5 2. Qc6# and 1…Kxf5 2. Bxg6#./PN
