The qualifying battle in Group A of the Chessable Masters Tournament on the chess24.com playing server ended last week with Magnus Carlsen and Vladislav Artemiev topping the event and advancing to the knockout phase.
Also moving on with Carlsen and Artemiev were Alexander Grischuk and Hikaru Nakamura, whose last-minute heroics staved off elimination. Eliminated, meanwhile, were Daniil Dubov and Pentala Harikrishna.
The elimination was particularly painful for Dubov who just needed a draw to qualify after Round 8. Instead, the Round 8 co-leader squandered his chances, badly losing his final two games and was edged out by Grischuk and Nakamura on tiebreak. The group’s sixth player, Pentala Harikrishna, was the only player not in the run for qualification.
The four qualifiers will now await the four qualifiers from Group B.
The Group A final standings: 1-2. Carlsen, Artemiev, 6; 3-5. Grischuk, Nakamura, Dubov, 5; 6. Harikrishna, 3.
Harikrishna, P (2719)-Artemiev, V (2716) [C72]
chess24.com (6.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.c3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Re1 Nge7 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Bxe5 11.Nd2 Bxa4 12.Qxa4+ Qd7 13.Qb3 Qb5 14.Nf3 Bg7 15.Qxb5+ axb5 16.e5 dxe5 17.Nxe5 0-0 18.Nd7 Rfe8 19.Kf1 Nd5 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Nc5 Nxc3 22.Nxb7 Na4 23.Rb1 Ra8 24.a3 Ra7 25.Nd8 Ra6 26.Bf4 Bf6 27.Re1 Kg7 28.Bxc7 Nxb2 29.Nb7 Nc4 30.g4 Rxa3 31.Nd6 Nxd6 32.Bxd6 Ra1 33.h3 Rxe1+ 34.Kxe1 Bd4 35.Ke2 Kf6 36.f3 Ke6 37.Bb4 Kd5 38.Kd3 Bc5 39.Bc3 Bd6 40.Bd2 b4 41.Be1 b3 42.Bf2 Be5 43.Be1 Kc5 44.Bd2 Kb5 45.f4 Bf6 46.f5 gxf5 47.gxf5 Ka4 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (6.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3 Nbd7 7.Nb5 Ne8 8.e3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.dxc5 a6 11.Nbd4 Bxc5 12.0-0 Qe7 13.Rc1 Bd6 14.Ba2 Ndf6 15.Ne5 Nd7 16.Ndc6 Qh4 17.Bg3 Qg5 18.h4 Qf6 19.Ng4 Qxb2 20.Bxd6 bxc6 21.Rc2 Qb5 22.Bxf8 Nxf8 23.h5 h6 24.Qf3 Qxh5 25.Qxc6 Nc7 26.Qf3 Nd5 27.e4 e5 28.Nxh6+ 1-0
Dubov, D (2699)-Artemiev, V (2716) [D52]
chess24.com (7.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Rc1 0-0 9.Be2 Bxc3 10.Rxc3 Qxa2 11.Qc1 Qa5 12.Ra3 Qd8 13.e4 h6 14.h4 Qe8 15.e5 Nh7 16.Rg3 Kh8 17.Nf3 f5 18.exf6 Ndxf6 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Ne5 Ne4 21.Re3 c5 22.dxc5 Rf5 23.Rxe4 dxe4 24.Qc3 b6 25.g4 Rxe5 26.Qxe5 Qc6 27.g5 h5 28.0-0 Qxc5 29.Qxe4 Rb8 30.Qg6 Qf5 31.Qe8+ Kh7 32.Rd1 Bb7 33.Qxb8 Qe4 34.Bd3 1-0
Dubov, D (2699)-Carlsen, M (2863) [D43]
chess24.com (9.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.g3 Nbd7 6.Bg2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.b3 b6 9.Re1 Ba6 10.Nd2 Rc8 11.Bb2 c5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.b4 Nce4 14.Ncxe4 dxe4 15.b5 Bb7 16.e3 Bb4 17.Re2 Qd3 18.Rb1 Bc3 19.Ba3 Rfd8 20.Rb3 Qxc4 21.Qe1 Qd5 22.Bb4 Qxb3 23.axb3 Bxb4 24.Bf1 a5 25.Qd1 h6 0-1
Grischuk, A (2777)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [E10]
chess24.com (10.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e4 0-0 8.Bd3 Re8 9.0-0 d6 10.h3 c4 11.Bxc4 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 Rxe4 13.Bd3 Re8 14.Bg5 Bf6 15.Qa4 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 Re5 17.f4 Rxd5 18.Qc4 Rxg5 19.fxg5 Be6 20.Qf4 Nc6 21.Rf2 Ne5 22.Bf1 Qb6 23.Kh2 Rc8 24.b3 Rc3 25.Rd1 Qc7 26.Kg1 a5 27.Qd4 d5 28.Qf4 b6 29.Re1 Nd7 30.Rxe6 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Dubov, D (2699) [B35]
Chessable Masters GpA chess24.com INT (10.3), 22.06.2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3 Re8 9.f4 d6 10.Qf3 Bd7 11.0-0 Ng4 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Bd2 d5 14.f5 Ne5 15.Qf2 e6 16.f6 Ng4 17.Qf3 Qxf6 18.Qxg4 Qd4+ 19.Rf2 f5 20.Qf3 fxe4 21.Qf7+ Kh8 22.Qxd7 Rad8 23.Qxc6 Rf8 24.Be1 Qe3 25.Qxe6 Bd4 26.Nxd5 Qe2 27.Qe5+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.c6!. Black’s futile options are 1…cxd6 2.Qxd6#; 1…Qf4 2.Sxf4#; 1…Rxc3/e4 2.B(x)e4#; 1…Rd4 2.Rxd4#./PN
