THE first set of quarterfinal knockout matches in the Opera Euro Rapid played on Feb. 9 at chess24.com server saw Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So emerging victorious over their respective opponents.
Carlsen demolished Daniil Dubov, 2½-½, while Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley defeated Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, respectively, via identical 2½-1½ scores. Anish Giri and Teimour Radjabov traded wins and draws and tied 2-2 in their first set match. Thus, Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley need only draw their second set matches to advance to semifinal stage. It’s still a toss-up between Giri and Radjabov, though, as both needs to win the set in order to advance.
Carlsen, M (2862)-Dubov, D (2710) [C55]
chess24.com (1.11) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Re1 h6 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Nf1 a5 11.Ng3 a4 12.Bd2 d5 13.b4 axb3 14.axb3 Rxa1 15.Qxa1 d4 16.Qb1 dxc3 17.Bxc3 Bc5 18.b4 Bb6 19.b5 Nd4 20.Bxd4 Bxd4 21.Qb3 Qd7 22.Nf5 Ng4 23.N5xd4 exd4 24.e5 h5 25.Qc4 Rxf3 26.gxf3 Nh6 27.Rc1 Nf5 28.Qxc7 Qd5 29.Qc2 Nh4 30.Qe2 Nxf3+ 31.Kh1 Nxe5+ 32.f3 Qxb5 33.Re1 Nxd3 34.Rd1 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [D96]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Be6 7.Qa4+ Bd7 8.Qb3 c5 9.d5 b5 10.Nxb5 Na6 11.Nc3 Rb8 12.Qd1 Qa5 13.Qd2 Nb4 14.e4 Ba4 15.b3 Bxb3 16.Rb1 Bc2 17.Rb3 Bxb3 18.axb3 Nd7 19.Bb2 0-0 20.Be2 Na2 21.Na4 Qxa4 22.Bxg7 Rxb3 23.Bxf8 Rb1+ 24.Bd1 Qxe4+ 25.Kf1 Nc3 26.Qxc3 Rxd1+ 27.Ne1 Nxf8 28.h4 Qxd5 29.Rh3 Ne6 30.Re3 Rd4 31.Nf3 Qc4+ 32.Qxc4 Rxc4 33.Ra3 Nd4 34.Nxd4 cxd4 35.Rxa7 d3 36.Ke1 Re4+ 37.Kd2 Re2+ 38.Kxd3 Rxf2 0-1
Giri, A (2764)-Radjabov, T (2765) [B32]
chess24.com (1.13) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.c4 b4 10.Nc2 a5 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.Ne3 Be6 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.Qxd6 Nd4 16.Bd3 Rc8 17.0-0 Rc6 18.Qb8+ Rc8 19.Qb6 0-0 20.Qxa5 Qf4 21.Rfe1 Bh3 22.Bf1 Rc6 23.Nf5 Bxf5 24.exf5 Nc2 25.g3 Qh6 26.Qxe5 Nxa1 27.Rxa1 Qd6 28.Re1 Ra6 29.Qxd6 Rxd6 30.Re5 Rd2 31.c5 Rxb2 32.Bc4 Rc2 33.Bb3 Rc3 34.g4 h6 35.Kg2 Kh7 36.Re7 f6 37.Rc7 h5 38.h3 hxg4 39.hxg4 Kh6 40.c6 Rd8 41.Rd7 Rxd7 42.cxd7 Rd3 43.Be6 Kg5 44.f3 Kf4 45.Kf2 Rd2+ 46.Ke1 Ke3 47.f4 Rd6 48.g5 Kxf4 49.gxf6 gxf6 50.Ke2 Rd4 51.Kf2 Rd2+ 52.Ke1 Ke3 53.Kf1 Kf3 54.Kg1 Rd4 55.Kh2 Rd1 0-1
Duda, J-K (2743)-So, Wesley (2770) [A06]
chess24.com (1.14) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.h4 f5 10.g4 Nxc3 11.dxc3 e5 12.Bc4+ Kh8 13.Ng5 e4 14.Rd1 Qe8 15.Ne6 Bxe6 16.Bxe6 Ne5 17.gxf5 Nd3+ 18.Rxd3 exd3 19.Qxd3 Rd8 20.Qe4 Qh5 21.f3 Bf6 22.Ke2 Rd6 23.Qg4 Qe8 24.h5 Qd8 25.Bc1 Bxc3 26.h6 g6 27.Qc4 Rd2+ 28.Bxd2 Qxd2+ 29.Kf1 Qxe3 30.Qe4 Qc1+ 31.Kg2 Qg5+ 32.Qg4 Qd2+ 33.Kh3 gxf5 34.Qh5 Be5 35.f4 Qxf4 0-1
Radjabov, T (2765)-Giri, A (2764) [E11]
chess24.com (1.14) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Bd3 e5 8.b4 a5 9.b5 Nbd7 10.0-0 Re8 11.Re1 Bf8 12.Bb2 exd4 13.Bxd4 Ne5 14.Be2 a4 15.Qc2 Nfd7 16.Bb2 Be7 17.Nf1 Bf6 18.Nd4 Ng6 19.Ng3 Nc5 20.Rad1 Be5 21.Nf3 Bxb2 22.Qxb2 Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Rxe4 24.c5 Nf4 25.Bf1 Rxe1 26.Rxe1 Bf5 27.Qb4 Ne6 28.cxd6 Qxd6 29.Qxd6 cxd6 30.Rd1 Rc8 31.h3 Rc3 32.Rxd6 g5 33.Ne5 Rxa3 34.Bc4 Ra1+ 35.Kh2 a3 36.Rd7 a2 37.Bxa2 Rxa2 38.Rxf7 Be4 39.f3 Bd5 40.Rd7 Nf4 41.Kh1 Re2 42.Ng4 Re6 43.Nf2 Rb6 44.Nd1 Rxb5 45.Nc3 Rc5 46.Nxd5 Rxd5 47.Rxb7 Rd1+ 48.Kh2 Rd2 49.Rb8+ Kg7 50.Rb7+ Kg6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rxf7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rb4 2.cxb4#; 1…Ra4/c5 2.c4#; 1…Rd4 2.cxd4#; 1…Re4 2.Sd3#; 1…Rf4 2.gxf4#; 1…Rxg4+ 2.Sxg4#; 1…Rxc3 2.Bxc3#; 1…Sg6/f5 2.R(x)f5#./PN
