Round 7 of the ongoing Legends of Chess Online Rapid Tournament on the chess24.com server turned out to be another torrid round with the favorites hanging on to their respective places in the leaderboard.
World champion Magnus Carlsen went through the proverbial wringer before finally bringing down Peter Svidler, 2½-1½.
The win increased Carlsen’s lead over second-running Ian Nepomniachtchi who had to beat a tough Peter Leko in Armageddon before prevailing, 3-2.
The other Round 4 matches were as exciting. Viswanathan Anand finally scored his first match victory by crushing Boris Gelfand, 2½-½, in an abbreviated setto, Anish Giri demolished Liren Ding with the similar tally and Vassily Ivabchuk showed deadly form in squashing Vladimir Kramnik, 3-1.
The standings after Round 6: 1. Carlsen, 20; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 18; 3. Giri, 14; 4. Kramnik, 12; 5. Svidler, 11; 6. Ivanchuk, 9; 7. Gelfand, 7; 8. Anand, 6; 9. Leko. 5; 10. Ding, 3.
Kramnik, V (2753)-Ivanchuk, V (2678) [C50]
chess24.com (7.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 a6 6.0-0 Ba7 7.Re1 d6 8.Bb3 h6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Nf1 Re8 11.Ng3 Be6 12.Ba4 b5 13.Bc2 d5 14.exd5 Qxd5 15.Be3 Bb6 16.h3 Qd6 17.a4 b4 18.a5 Bxe3 19.fxe3 bxc3 20.bxc3 e4 21.Nxe4 Nxe4 22.dxe4 Qg3 23.Kh1 Rab8 24.Ba4 Red8 25.Qe2 Nxa5 26.Nd4 Rd6 27.Qf3 Qg5 28.Qf4 Nc4 29.Bb3 Rxd4 30.cxd4 Rxb3 31.d5 Bd7 32.Rac1 Bb5 33.h4 Qe7 34.Rc2 Rb4 35.Rec1 a5 36.Kg1 a4 37.e5 Nxe5 38.Rxc7 Qxc7 39.Rxc7 Rxf4 40.exf4 Nc4 41.Rb7 Be8 42.Kf2 Kf8 43.g4 a3 44.Ra7 Bb5 45.Kf3 Nb6 46.d6 Ba4 47.Rb7 Bc6+ 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Svidler, P (2723) [A48]
chess24.com (7.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 c5 6.0-0 Qb6 7.Nbd2 d5 8.Qc1 Nc6 9.c3 Nh5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 e5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Bxe5 16.e4 dxe4 17.Nc4 Qe6 18.Qe3 Bg7 19.Qxc5 b6 20.Qa3 f5 21.Rad1 Bd7 22.Rd6 Qe8 23.Bh5 Qe7 24.Ne3 Be6 25.Bd1 f4 26.Rxe6 Qxa3 27.bxa3 fxe3 28.fxe3 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Kf8 30.Ke2 Rc8 31.Bb3 Rxc3 32.Rxe4 Rc5 33.Re6 Re5 34.Rd6 Ke7 35.Rg6 Kf8 36.g4 Rc5 37.a4 Re5 38.Kd3 Rc5 39.Bc4 Re5 40.Rc6 Rc5 41.Rd6 Ke7 42.Rg6 Kf8 43.e4 Rc7 44.a5 bxa5 45.Ra6 Ke7 46.e5 Kf8 47.Rxa5 Ke7 48.Bb3 Rb7 49.Ke4 Bf8 50.Kf5 Rc7 51.Ra6 Ke8 52.Kg6 Rb7 53.Re6+ Kd8 54.Rf6 Be7 55.Kxh6 Rb5 56.Rf5 Rb4 57.e6 Rxg4 58.Rd5+ Ke8 59.Kg6 Rf4 60.Ra5 Kf8 61.Rxa7 Rf6+ 62.Kh7 Bd6 63.Rf7+ Rxf7+ 64.exf7 1-0
Anand, V (2753)-Gelfand, B (2676) [B30]
chess24.com (7.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3 Qc7 6.0-0 Ne7 7.h4 e5 8.h5 h6 9.Nh2 d6 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 g5 12.Bd2 Bg7 13.Bc3 0-0 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qd2 Be6 16.Qc3+ f6 17.Nd2 Rf7 18.Rf2 Raf8 19.Raf1 Qb6 20.Nc4 Qb8 21.b3 d5 22.Nb2 Qb4 23.Na4 Qxc3 24.Nxc3 f5 25.Na4 c4 26.Nc5 Bc8 27.bxc4 dxe4 28.dxe4 fxe4 29.Nxe4 Rxf2 30.Rxf2 Rd8 31.Nf1 Rd4 32.Nfg3 Be6 33.c5 Bxa2 34.c3 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Be6 36.Nd6 Re1 37.c4 Nc8 38.Ngf5+ Bxf5 39.Nxf5+ Kh7 40.Rd2 Re5 41.Rd7+ Kg8 42.Nxh6+ Kf8 43.Ng4 Re7 44.Rd1 Re4 45.Rf1+ Kg7 46.h6+ Kg6 47.Rf6 Kh5 48.h7 Re8 49.Kg3 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Giri, A (2764) [E48]
chess24.com (7.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nge2 Re8 8.Bd2 b6 9.Rc1 Bd6 10.Nb5 c5 11.Nxd6 Qxd6 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.Bc3 Nbd7 14.0-0 Ne5 15.Bb5 Bd7 16.Bxd7 Nexd7 17.Ng3 Ne4 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.Rc2 Rd8 20.Rd2 Nf8 21.Qf3 Qe6 22.h3 Ng6 23.Rfd1 h6 24.Qg3 Rd7 25.b3 Kh7 26.Bb2 f5 27.Kh2 f4 28.exf4 Rxf4 29.Qe3 Qc6 30.Qd3 d4 31.Rc1 Qd6 32.Kg1 Rdf7 33.Ba3 R4f5 34.Rdc2 Nf4 35.Qe4 Qg6 36.Kh1 Rg5 37.Qxg6+ Rxg6 38.f3 d3 39.Rf2 Re7 40.Bxc5 Re2 41.Rd1 Rc6 42.Bxa7 Ra6 43.Bd4 Raxa2 44.Kg1 Ne6 45.Bb6 Ra6 46.Rxd3 Re1+ 47.Kh2 Rxb6 48.Rc2 Rb1 49.h4 Kg6 50.Rcc3 Rb2 51.Kg3 Kf6 52.Re3 g5 53.hg5 hg5 54.Rc8 Nf4 55.Rf8 Kg7 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Leko, P (2663) [A01]
chess24.com (7.5) 2020
1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.Nc3 c6 7.Qc2 b6 8.g4 Nxg4 9.Rg1 Nf6 10.0-0-0 c5 11.d4 cxd4 12.Rxd4 Nc6 13.Rh4 g6 14.Ng5 Nb4 15.Qb1 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Qe8 17.Nce4 Nbd5 18.Bxd5 exd5 19.Nxf6+ Bxf6 20.Bxf6 Qc6+ 21.Qc2 Qxf6 22.Qb2 Qxb2+ 23.Kxb2 h5 24.Nf3 Bg4 25.Ne5 Rfe8 26.Nxg4 hxg4 27.Rhxg4 Kg7 28.Rd1 Re5 29.h4 Rh8 30.a4 a5 31.Kc3 Rc8+ 32.Kd3 Rf5 33.Rd2 Kf6 34.b4 Ke6 35.bxa5 bxa5 36.Rb2 Rc5 37.Ke2 Kf6 38.Rd4 Rh5 39.Kf3 Kg7 40.Rf4 Rc4 41.Rb5 Rxf4+ 42.exf4 Rxh4 43.Rxd5 Rh3+ 44.Kg2 Ra3 45.Rxa5 Kh6 46.f3 Ra2+ 47.Kg3 f6 48.Ra7 Ra3 49.Ra6 Ra2 50.Ra8 Ra3 51.a5 Ra2 52.a6 Kg7 53.Kg4 Ra4 54.Ra7+ Kh6 55.Kg3 Ra3 56.Kf2 Ra4 57.Ke3 Ra3+ 58.Ke4 Ra4+ 59.Ke3 Ra3+ 60.Ke2 Ra2+ 61.Kd3 Ra3+ 62.Kc4 Ra4+ 63.Kb5 Rxf4 64.Rc7 Rxf3 65.Rc4 Rb3+ 66.Rb4 Re3 67.a7 Re8 68.Ka6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bg2! Black’s futile options are 1…Sc7 2.Rcd8#; 1…Se7 2.Red8#; 1…Sb6 2.Rc6#; 1…Sf6/c3/e3 2.Qxa6#; 1…Sb4 2.Qxc5#; 1…Sf4, Re4 2.S(x)e4#./s
