World chess champion Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters Tournament after beating Anish Giri two straight in their set matches on the chess24.com server.
Carlsen won the first set via hard labor, squeaking past Giri in the blitz tiebreaks, 3½-2½ after the top Dutch player leveled in regulation.
The second set proved to be even a tougher battle for Carlsen who, after winning the first game, drifted in the remaining three games. Giri, however, missed opportunities of winning these games that allowed Carlsen to draw each time.
The victory was the second for Carlsen in the $1-million chess tour bearing his name, and it made him richer by $45,000. Giri settled for the $27,000 runner-up pay check.
The fourth leg of the Tour, dubbed The Legends of Chess, will be on July 21st. Initial reports mention the names of former chess world champions Viswanthan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik taking part along with Carlsen, Giri, Liren Ding, Peter Svidler, and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Giri, A (2764) [C65]
chess24.com (3.12) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nc3 Qe7 7.h3 b6 8.a3 h6 9.Qe2 Bd7 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.fxe3 0-0-0 12.Qf2 Ne8 13.Qg3 f6 14.Nh4 Rg8 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.exf5 Nd6 17.e4 Qf7 18.Qf2 g6 19.fxg6 Qxg6 20.g4 h5 21.0-0-0 hxg4 22.hxg4 Qxg4 23.Qxf6 Qg5+ 24.Qxg5 Rxg5 25.a4 a5 26.Rdg1 Rdg8 27.Rxg5 Rxg5 28.Nb1 b5 29.Nd2 Rg3 30.b3 bxa4 31.bxa4 c5 32.Nf1 Rf3 33.Kd1 c4 34.Ke2 Rf7 35.Nd2 Rg7 36.Kf3 Kd7 37.Rh5 Rg1 38.Rxe5 Rc1 39.Nxc4 Nxc4 40.dxc4 Rxc2 41.Rxa5 Rxc4 42.Rd5+ Ke6 43.a5 Rc1 44.Rd8 Rf1+ 45.Ke2 Ra1 46.Ra8 Kd6 47.a6 Kc6 48.Ke3 Re1+ 49.Kf4 Kb6 50.e5 c5 51.Rc8 Rf1+ 52.Kg5 Rg1+ 53.Kf6 Rf1+ 54.Ke7 Rc1 55.e6 c4 56.Kd7 Rd1+ 57.Ke8 Rc1 58.e7 c3 59.Kf7 Rf1+ 60.Kg6 Rg1+ 61.Kf5 Rf1+ 62.Kg4 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Giri, A (2764) [B51]
chess24.com (3.14) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.a4 Ngf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.a5 Bg7 7.0-0 a6 8.Be2 0-0 9.Re1 b5 10.axb6 Bb7 11.d3 Nxb6 12.e5 Nfd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.exd6 exd6 15.c3 Re8 16.Bd2 Qb6 17.Qc2 a5 18.h3 Bc6 19.d4 cxd4 20.Nxd4 Nb4 21.cxb4 Bxd4 22.bxa5 Bxf2+ 23.Kf1 Qd4 24.Qxc6 Bxe1 25.Bxe1 Qxb2 26.Bf3 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Giri, A (2764) [E26]
chess24.com (3.16) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bd3 d6 8.Ne2 e5 9.Ng3 h5 10.h4 Qe7 11.d5 Nb8 12.e4 Bg4 13.f3 Bc8 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.0-0 Nd7 17.f4 exf4 18.Nxh5 Ne5 19.Nxf6+ Kd8 20.Rxf4 Ng6 21.Qf3 Qe7 22.h5 Nxf4 23.Qxf4 Qe5 24.Qxe5 dxe5 25.g4 a5 26.g5 Ra6 27.Rb1 Rxf6 28.gxf6 Rxh5 29.Rb5 Rh3 30.Be2 Rxc3 31.Rxa5 Re3 32.Bh5 Rxe4 33.Ra8 Kc7 34.d6+ Kd7 35.Bxf7 Rg4+ 36.Kh2 Rf4 37.Kg3 Rxf6 38.Bh5 Rf4 39.Bg4+ Kxd6 40.Bxc8 Rxc4 41.Bxb7 Rc3+ 42.Kg4 c4 43.Be4 Rc1 44.Ra5 Rf1 45.Kg3 Rf4 46.Bf3 Rd4 47.Kf2 Rd3 48.Be4 Rb3 49.Ke2 Rb2+ 50.Ke3 Rb3+ 51.Kd2 Kc7 52.a4 Kb6 53.Rxe5 Rb4 54.Bc2 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Giri, A (2764) [D41]
chess24.com (3.21) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.0-0 b6 13.Rad1 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Rc8 15.Bb3 Re8 16.Re3 Nf6 17.d5 exd5 18.e5 Ne4 19.Qe1 Qc7 20.Nd4 a6 21.h4 Rcd8 22.f3 Nc5 23.h5 Ne6 24.Nf5 d4 25.Red3 Nc5 26.Rxd4 Rxd4 27.Rxd4 Nxb3 28.Qg3 g6 29.axb3 Rd8 30.e6 Qc1+ 31.Kh2 Rxd4 32.e7 Qc8 33.Qe5 Rh4+ 34.Kg3 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Carlsen, M (2863) [D52]
chess24.com (3.24) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 dxc4 8.Bxf6 Nxf6 9.Nxc4 Qc7 10.Rc1 Be7 11.g3 0-0 12.Bg2 Rd8 13.0-0 Bd7 14.e4 b5 15.Ne3 Qb6 16.e5 Nd5 17.Ne4 Be8 18.a3 a5 19.Qd3 Ra7 20.Nc5 a4 21.Be4 h6 22.Rfd1 Qb8 23.Qe2 b4 24.Ng4 bxa3 25.bxa3 Bxc5 26.Rxc5 Rb7 27.Bc2 Ne7 28.Nf6+ Kf8 29.Qg4 Rb5 30.Nh5 g6 31.Qf4 Nf5 32.Rxb5 Qxb5 33.Bxf5 g5 34.Qf3 exf5 35.Qxf5 Qe2 36.Rc1 Qxh5 37.Qf6 Rxd4 38.Qh8 Ke7 39.Qf6 Kf8 40.Qh8 Ke7 41.Qf6 Kf8 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.c5! Black’s futile options are 1…b5 2.Sc6#; 1…Bxe7 2.exf4#; 1…fxe3 2.Sxf3#; 1…Sxd2 2.Qxg5#./PN
