Anish Giri had little trouble barging into the semifinals of the ongoing Chessable Masters Tournament at the chess24.com server over the weekend, but Liren Ding’s advance was stalled by a determined Hikaru Nakamura who won their Round 2 quarterfinal match in Group B to extend it to a deciding third session.
Giri eliminated Alexander via a 3-1 tally, while Nakamura needed an Armageddon to finally subdue Ding, 4-3. Giri and Ding won the opening set of their best-of-three quarterfinal matches and needed to win again to advance to the semifinals. With his second win, Giri will now meet early qualifier Ian Nepomniachtchi while Magnus Carlsen, another early qualifier, will have to wait for the outcome of the Ding-Nakamura deciding match.
Ding, L (2791)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D20]
chess24.com (1.22) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Be3 Nb4 8.Be4 f5 9.a3 N4d5 10.Bxd5 Nxd5 11.Nc3 Nxe3 12.fxe3 e6 13.Nge2 g6 14.Nf4 Bh6 15.Nce2 c6 16.h4 a5 17.Kf2 0-0 18.Qb3 Re8 19.Rac1 Ra6 20.g3 Bf8 21.Rhd1 Kh8 22.Rc3 Rb6 23.Qc2 Bd7 24.Nd3 Re7 25.Nc5 Be8 26.Nf4 Bf7 27.Rc4 Re8 28.Rd2 Qe7 29.Qc3 Ra8 30.Ra4 Rb5 31.Rc4 Rb6 32.Qc2 Kg8 33.Rd3 h6 34.Rb3 Rxb3 35.Qxb3 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Nfd3 b5 38.Rc1 a4 39.Qa2 Qe8 40.Nb4 Rc8 41.Ke1 Bxc5 42.Rxc5 Bh5 43.Kd2 Bf3 44.Kc3 Kg7 45.Qb1 Be4 46.Qe1 Qh8 47.b3 Qh2 48.bxa4 bxa4 49.Ra5 Kg6 50.Ra6 c5 51.Rxe6+ Kf7 52.Rf6+ Kg7 53.dxc5 Rxc5+ 54.Kd4 Rc8 55.Nd5 Qb2+ 56.Nc3 Qb3 0-1
Grischuk, A (2777)-Giri, A (2764) [D17]
chess24.com (1.22) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne5 a5 9.f3 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Bxd7 11.e4 e6 12.Be2 Bb4 13.0-0 0-0 14.Kh1 h6 15.Be3 Rc8 16.Qb3 c5 17.Rfd1 Qe7 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Nb5 Bxe3 20.Qxe3 Qc5 21.Qxc5 Rxc5 22.b3 Rfc8 23.Kg1 Kf8 24.Nd6 R8c7 25.Nb5 Rc8 26.Nd6 R8c7 27.Nb5 Bxb5 28.axb5 Rc2 29.Bf1 Rb2 30.Rd6 Nc8 31.b6 Rc5 32.Rd7 Rxb3 33.Rxb7 Rxb6 34.Rd7 g5 35.h3 Rb2 36.Rd4 Ne7 37.Rd8+ Kg7 38.Rd7 Ng6 39.Ra7 Nh4 40.Rd1 Kg6 41.Kh1 Rcc2 42.e5 Rf2 43.Bd3+ Kg7 44.Be4 Rxg2 45.f4 Rh2+ 46.Kg1 Rhe2 0-1
Ding, L (2791)-Nakamura, H (2736) [E32]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.h4 Ba6 10.Qc2 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 12.Rh3 Nc6 13.Bg5 Nd4 14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.Rd1 e5 16.Rf3 Bb7 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Rg3+ Kh8 19.e3 Qe7 20.exd4 exd4+ 21.Be2 Be4 22.Qd2 d3 23.Bxd3 Bxd3+ 24.Re3 Qb7 25.Qxd3 Qxg2 26.Qd4 Qg1+ 27.Ke2 Qg6 28.Rf3 Rae8+ 29.Kf1 Re6 30.Rg3 Qf5 31.Qg4 Qxg4 32.Rxg4 a5 33.b4 axb4 34.axb4 Rb8 35.Rb1 Re5 36.Kg2 h5 37.Rc4 Kg7 38.Kf3 f5 39.Kf4 Kf6 40.Rd1 Rb6 41.f3 Reb5 42.Rdd4 Rb8 43.Ke3 R5b6 44.Kd3 Ke6 45.Kc3 Ra6 46.Kb3 Rba8 47.b5 Ra1 48.Rc2 R1a3+ 49.Kb4 R3a4+ 50.Kc5 Rc8+ 51.Kb6 Rxd4 52.Rxc8 Rxh4 53.Ka5 Kd7 54.Rc5 Rh1 55.b6 h4 56.b7 Ra1+ 57.Kb6 Rb1+ 58.Ka7 Ra1 59.Kb8 h3 60.Rc2 Rh1 61.Ra2 Rb1 62.Ka7 1-0
Grischuk, A (2777)-Giri, A (2764) [C53]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 a5 8.Nbd2 Ba7 9.h3 g5 10.Bg3 0-0 11.Qe2 Kg7 12.0-0-0 Bd7 13.Bb5 Qe7 14.Bh2 a4 15.a3 Nb8 16.d4 exd4 17.cxd4 Nc6 18.e5 dxe5 19.dxe5 Nd5 20.Ne4 Be6 21.Rhe1 Rfd8 22.Qc2 Ncb4 23.axb4 Nxb4 24.Rxd8 Nxc2 25.Rxa8 Nxe1 26.Nxe1 Qb4 27.Nd3 Qxe4 28.Rxa7 c6 29.Rxa4 Qxg2 0-1
Ding, L (2791)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A88]
chess24.com (1.26) 2020
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.c4 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.d5 e5 9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.b3 Re8 11.Ng5 Bc8 12.Bb2 Na6 13.Qc2 Ng4 14.Nh3 Be6 15.Nf4 Bf7 16.Rad1 Qe7 17.h3 Nf6 18.e4 fxe4 19.Rfe1 Nc5 20.b4 Nd3 21.Nxd3 exd3 22.Qd2 Qf8 23.Qxd3 Nd7 24.Na4 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Ne5 26.Bxe5 dxe5 27.Nc5 b6 28.Ne4 Qxb4 29.Rc1 Qb2 30.Rd1 Qxa2 31.Qd7 Rf8 32.Nd6 Qxf2+ 33.Kxf2 Be6+ 34.Nf5 Rxf5+ 35.Ke2 Bxd7 36.Rxd7 Rf7 37.Rd8+ Bf8 38.Bxc6 Kg7 39.Bd5 Rc7 40.Re8 a5 41.Rxe5 a4 42.Kd3 a3 43.Re2 Ra7 44.Ra2 Bd6 45.g4 Be5 46.Kc2 Bb2 47.Kb3 Rd7 48.Kb4 Kf6 49.Kb5 Ke5 50.Bc6 Rd2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc4 Black’s futile options are 1…Ka4 2.Qa3#; 1…Kxc4 2.Qc3#; 1…g2 2.Qb3#./PN
