Four quuarterfinalists, three of them Russians, advance to the semifinal knockout round of the ongoing Airthings Masters event over at the chess24.com playing server.
First, preliminary round winner Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated German child prodigy Vincent Keymer, 2½-1½, in a close fight that only saw Nepomniachtchi taking the match after a decisive third game dominance of the 18-year old Keymer. Second, Magnus Carlsen also beat Vietnam’s speed chess king Le Quang Liem, 2½-1½, by winning the first game and then played out three draws for the final score. The third qualifier was another Russian, Andrey Esipenko, who took out Canadian Eric Hansen in 4 games, 3-1. The fourth qualifier was another Russian, Vladislav Artemiev, who knocked out another favorite Liren Ding with a 2½–1½ score.
So now the semifinal matches will pit Nepomniachtchi against Esipenko, while Carlsen goes up versus Artemiev.
Carlsen,M (2865)-Le,QL (2709) [A29]
chess24.com (1.11) 2022
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qc2 Nf6 9.a3 Bb6 10.e3 a5 11.b3 Bg4 12.Bb2 Qd7 13.Na4 Rfe8 14.d4 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 exd4 16.Rfd1 Ne5 17.Bxb7 d3 18.Bxe5 dxc2 19.Rxd7 Nxd7 20.Bxa8 Rxa8 21.Bb2 Nc5 22.Rc1 Nxb3 23.Rxc2 f6 24.Kf1 Rb8 25.Bc3 Kf7 26.Rb2 Ba7 27.Ke2 Ke6 28.Kd3 Kd5 29.e4+ Kc6 30.Kc4 Nc1 31.Rxb8 Bxb8 32.Bxa5 Ba7 33.Bd2 Ne2 34.Kd3 Kb5 35.Nb2 Ng1 36.Be3 c5 37.f4 Nf3 38.h3 Bb6 39.Ke2 Nd4+ 40.Bxd4 cxd4 41.Kd3 Bc5 42.a4+ Kb4 43.e5 f5 44.e6 g6 45.g4 h6 46.g5 h5 47.h4 1-0
Ding,L (2799)-Artemiev,V (2700) [D35]
chess24.com (1.11) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nge2 Re8 10.0-0 a5 11.Rc1 Nbd7 12.f3 b5 13.Bf2 Nb6 14.Nf4 Bd6 15.b3 Bd7 16.Bb1 Ba3 17.Rc2 Bf5 18.Re2 Bxb1 19.Qxb1 Bd6 20.Rc2 Rc8 21.Nd3 Qe7 22.Ne2 Nbd7 23.Ng3 g6 24.Rfc1 Ba3 25.Re1 c5 26.e4 c4 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.Nf4 dxe4 29.Nxe4 Nxe4 30.fxe4 Qg5 31.g3 Nf6 32.h4 Qg4 33.e5 Nh5 34.Nxh5 Qxh5 35.Qb5 Qf3 36.Rxc4 Qd3 37.Rc5 Qxb5 38.Rxb5 Rc2 39.Re3 Bb4 40.a3 Bd2 41.Rf3 Bc3 42.Rb7 Rd8 43.Rc7 Rc1+ 44.Kg2 Bb2 45.Rcxf7 Rc2 46.e6 Re8 47.e7 Bxa3 48.Rf8 Rf8 49.Rxf8+ 1-0
Nepomniachtchi,I (2773)-Keymer,V (2664) [B92]
chess24.com (1.13) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 Be6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Nc6 11.f3 b5 12.a4 bxa4 13.Nxa4 d5 14.Nac5 Bc8 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.Bf2 Nd4 17.Bf1 Qc7 18.c3 Nxb3 19.Nxb3 Rd8 20.Qe2 Be6 21.Na5 Rab8 22.Qc4 Rxb2 23.Qxc7 Nxc7 24.Nc6 Re8 25.Nxe7+ Rxe7 26.Rxe5 h6 27.Rd1 Re8 28.c4 Reb8 29.Bd3 Ra2 30.Rc5 Ne8 31.Bg3 Rbb2 32.Bf1 Rd2 33.Rxd2 Rxd2 34.Ra5 Rd1 35.Kf2 Rc1 36.c5 Rc2+ 37.Ke3 Nf6 38.Bxa6 Nd5+ 39.Kd4 Rd2+ 40.Bd3 Bf5 41.Kxd5 Bxd3 42.c6 Bf5+ 43.Ke5 Be6 44.c7 Re2+ 45.Kd6 Rxg2 46.Ra8+ Kh7 47.c8Q Bxc8 48.Rxc8 Re2 49.Rc3 g5 50.Kd5 h5 51.Rc6 f5 52.Be5 f4 53.h4 g4 54.fxg4 f3 55.g5 f2 56.Rf6 Rd2+ 57.Bd4 Re2 58.Rxf2 1-0
Ding,L (2799)-Artemiev,V (2700) [D43]
chess24.com (1.13) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3 Ne4 9.Bf4 Ndf6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Ne5 Bf5 12.Qc2 g6 13.f3 Nd6 14.g4 Bxd3 15.Nxd3 Nfe8 16.e4 dxe4 17.fxe4 Ng7 18.Rad1 Ne6 19.Bh6 Re8 20.d5 cxd5 21.Nxd5 Nxe4 22.Ne5 Nd6 23.Qf2 Ng5 24.Kh1 Nge4 25.Qf3 f6 26.Nc4 Rc8 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.Qb3 Kh8 29.Qxb7 Rg8 30.Rde1 Rc2 31.Rxe4 Rxh2+ 32.Kg1 Rxh6 33.Rxf6 Rh3 34.b4 Rd3 35.Rf7 Qh4 36.Rxh7+ Qxh7 37.Qxh7+ Kxh7 38.Nf6 Kg7 39.Nxg8 Kxg8 0-1
Esipenko,A (2714)-Hansen,E (2606) [C65]
chess24.com (1.13) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Nd7 7.c3 0-0 8.d4 Bd6 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bh4 Qe8 11.Nbd2 b5 12.a4 Kh8 13.Re1 a5 14.Bg3 Nb6 15.b3 bxa4 16.bxa4 c5 17.dxe5 fxe5 18.c4 Nd7 19.Nf1 Nb8 20.Qd5 Ra7 21.Bxe5 Bb7 22.Bxd6 Bxd5 23.Bxf8 Qxf8 24.cxd5 c6 25.Ne3 h6 26.Ne5 Kh7 27.N3c4 cxd5 28.exd5 Nd7 29.Nxd7 Rxd7 30.d6 Qf4 31.Rac1 Rb7 32.g3 Qf5 33.Red1 h5 34.h4 Ra7 35.Ne3 Qd7 36.Rxc5 Qxa4 37.Rxh5+ Kg8 38.Rhd5 Rd7 39.R5d4 Qb5 40.Nd5 Kh7 41.Nc7 Qb3 42.Rd5 a4 43.Ne6 Qb8 44.Nc5 Rd8 45.Nxa4 Qa7 46.Nc5 Qf7 47.d7 Rf8 48.R1d2 1-0
Artemiev,V (2700)-Ding,L (2799) [A06]
chess24.com (1.14) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bd6 5.b3 b6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb2 0-0 8.Nb5 Be7 9.Be5 Ne8 10.Rc1 c5 11.Bxb8 Rxb8 12.Nxa7 Bb7 13.Nb5 d4 14.Bc4 Nd6 15.0-0 Nxc4 16.bxc4 d3 17.Rc3 Bf6 18.Rb3 Qd7 19.Ne1 Qe6 20.Qc1 Rfd8 21.Rxd3 h5 22.Rxd8+ Rxd8 23.d3 Bc6 24.a4 Qd7 25.e4 Ra8 26.Nc3 Bxa4 27.Nd5 Bd8 28.Nf3 Ra6 29.Qc3 b5 30.cxb5 Qxb5 31.h3 f6 32.Rc1 Rc6 33.Qa3 Qb3 34.Qxb3 Bxb3 35.Nd4 Bxd5 36.Nxc6 Bxc6 37.Rxc5 Bb7 38.Rb5 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.f4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bg6 2.Qf3#; 1…Ra1 2.Rf3#; 1…Nxe2 2.g3#.
