By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
GM Aliresa Firouzja squeezed past Indian GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan, 9-6, in their semifinals bout over the weekend to arrange a finals showdown with reigning world chess champion GM Magnus Carlsen in the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup, which is being played online on the chess24.com server.
It was a close and tense semifinals battle between Firouzja and Narayanan, and the two protagonists were at each other’s throats right from the opening bell. All told, the two played 15 games – eleven of which were decisive. Narayanan missed some winning chances probably because of time pressure and nerves, while Firouzja appeared calmer – converted the Indian’s time-trouble mistakes into points.
The date of the Carlsen-Frouzja finals match has not been set, but organizers said the Cup ends any time before the end of April. Meanwhile, here are the crucial last five games of the showdown:
Narayanan, S.L. (2611)-Firouzja, A (2702) [D30]
chess24.com (6.8) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.Bg5 c5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nc3 Be6 7.e3 c4 8.Be2 Bb4 9.Ne5 Nc6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Qa4 Qd6 12.Bf4 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Qd7 14.Qa3 Bf5 15.f3 Rd8 16.g4 Bg6 17.h4 h5 18.g5 Ng8 19.Be5 f6 20.Bf4 Ne7 21.gxf6 gxf6 22.Rg1 Kf7 23.e4 dxe4 24.fxe4 Bxe4 25.Kd2 Nd5 26.Raf1 Rhg8 27.Bxh5+ Ke6 28.Bh2 Rxg1 29.Rxg1 Qh7 30.Bg4+ f5 31.Be2 Qh6+ 32.Ke1 Qxh4+ 33.Bg3 Qe7 34.Qa6 Kf7 35.Be5 Rg8 36.Bh5+ 1-0
Narayanan, S.L. (2611)-Firouzja, A (2702) [D02]
chess24.com INT (6.12) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 Bf5 7.Bb5 Nd7 8.c4 a6 9.Ba4 e6 10.0-0 Be7 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Qa4 0-0 13.c5 Qc8 14.Nb3 Bd3 15.Rfe1 Bd8 16.Na5 Bxa5 17.Qxa5 Re8 18.Bd6 Be4 19.Nd2 Bg6 20.b4 Qb7 21.Qa3 Nf6 22.f3 Qb5 23.Nb3 Bc2 24.Na5 Nd7 25.Qc3 Ba4 26.Re3 Nf6 27.Rae1 Nd7 28.a3 Rad8 29.Qd2 Nb6 30.Bc7 Nc4 31.Nxc4 dxc4 32.Bxd8 Rxd8 33.Qc3 Bb3 34.f4 g6 35.g4 Qb8 36.f5 Qf4 37.fxe6 fxe6 38.d5 cxd5 39.Rf1 Qxg4+ 40.Rg3 d4 41.Qe1 Qh4 42.Qxe6+ Kg7 43.Rf7+ Kh6 44.Rh3 1-0
Firouzja, A (2702)-Narayanan, S.L. (2611) [B10]
chess24.com (6.13) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d3 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 5.Be2 e6 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Nbd2 Be7 8.c3 0-0 9.Re1 c5 10.Qb3 Qc8 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.d4 Nf4 13.Bf1 Nc6 14.dxc5 Rd8 15.Qc4 Nd5 16.Nd4 Na5 17.Qa4 Qxc5 18.Ne4 Qc7 19.Nb5 Qb6 20.c4 a6 21.Nbd6 Bxd6 22.Nxd6 Nb4 23.Be3 Qxd6 24.Qxa5 Nc2 25.Qxh5 Nxa1 26.Rxa1 Rac8 27.Rc1 Qb4 28.b3 a5 29.c5 Rd5 30.Qg4 Qa3 31.Qa4 Qxa4 32.bxa4 b6 33.c6 e5 34.Bb5 Kf8 35.Bxb6 Ke7 36.Bxa5 Rd4 37.Bb6 Rd6 38.Bc5 1-0
Narayanan, S.L. (2611)-Firouzja, A (2702) [D02]
chess24.com (6.14) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Nxf3 e6 9.c3 Bd6 10.Be3 0-0 11.Bd3 Qc7 12.0-0 Bf4 13.Re1 Bxe3 14.Rxe3 Rab8 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd7 17.Qh5 g6 18.Qg5 Qd8 19.Qh6 Nc5 20.h4 Nxd3 21.Rxd3 Rc8 22.Rad1 Qe7 23.Rd4 b5 24.h5 Rc4 25.Qf4 f5 26.exf6 Qxf6 27.Qg3 Rxd4 28.cxd4 Qf4 29.Qxf4 Rxf4 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.g3 Re4 32.Kf1 e5 33.f3 Re3 34.Kf2 exd4 35.Rxd4 Re5 36.f4 Rh5 37.Kg2 a6 38.g4 Rh4 39.Kg3 Rh1 40.Rxd5 Rb1 41.Rd6 Kg7 42.Kh4 Rxb2 43.Kg5 Rxa2 44.Rxg6+ Kf7 45.Rb6 Ra4 46.f5 b4 47.Rb7+ Ke8 48.Kg6 1-0
Firouzja, A (2702)-Narayanan, S.L. (2611) [B50]
chess24.com (6.15) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Qxd7 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d3 g6 8.h3 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 Rfd8 11.Bh6 Bh8 12.Nh2 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Rae1 c4 15.Ne4 Bxb2 16.c3 Ba3 17.dxc4 Nb6 18.Qf4 Qf5 19.Qc7 Rd7 20.Qg3 Nxc4 21.Ng4 N4e5 22.Bf4 Nxg4 23.hxg4 Qb5 24.Qh3 f6 25.Rb1 Qc4 26.Rfe1 Rad8 27.Qf3 Bc5 28.Bh6 Bb6 29.Qf4 Qf7 30.g3 Ne5 31.Re2 Rd1+ 32.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33.Kg2 Qd5 34.g5 f5 35.g4 Nc6 36.gxf5 gxf5 37.c4 Qf7 38.Ng3 e6 39.Rd2 e5 40.Qxf5 Qxf5 41.Rxd1 Qxf2+ 42.Kh3 Qf3 43.Rf1 Qd3 44.Rf8# 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.N6e5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bg5/h4/g7 2.Qb8, Rb6#; 1…Bxe5 2.Rb6#; 1…Be7/d8, Bd7/c8 2.Qg3#; 1…Rg5/f5, Bg2/f1/g4 2.Qb8#; 1…Rxe5 2.Rxh3#./PN
