Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So advanced to the semifinals round of the Clutch Chess Showdown II being played on the lichess.org server after posting contrasting victories in the second half of their matches against their respective opponents.
Carlsen went through hard labor before finally prevailing over a tough Jeffery Xiong, 11½-6½, while So ran roughshod over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 13-5, in matches where the clutch points proved vital to both victors.
The win by Carlsen was hard-earned, and he only gained when Xiong blundered in the most critical moments. But Xiong’s performance was so compelling that GM Yasser Seirawan tweeted, “I’ve never seen Magnus getting handled like that by anybody.”
Carlsen will now await the winner of the Levon Aronian-Alexander Grischuk match, while Wesley will tangle with the winner of the Fabiano Caruana against Leinier Dominguez Perez for their semifinals bouts.
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2860)-Wesley So (2741) [A06]
lichess.org 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 e6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.Nc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.h4 Nc6 9.Qb1 f5 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.h5 h6 13.0-0 Qe8 14.d4 Nxd4 15.exd4 Bxb5 16.Re1 Qf7 17.a4 Ba6 18.Qd1 Bf6 19.Ne5 Bxe5 20.Rxe5 c4 21.Qf3 cxb3 22.Ba3 Bc4 23.Bxf8 Rxf8 24.Rae1 Qf6 25.a5 b6 26.axb6 axb6 27.Rxd5 Bxd5 28.Qxd5+ Qf7 29.Qb5 Qxh5 30.Qxb3+ Qf7 31.Qxb6 Qf6 32.Qb3+ Kh7 33.d5 Ra8 34.Qd3 Rd8 35.g3 Qg6 36.Re5 f4 37.Qxg6+ Kxg6 38.gxf4 Kf6 39.Kg2 Ra8 40.Kf3 Ra1 41.Re6+ Kf5 42.Re7 Rd1 43.Re5+ Kf6 44.Ke4 Rd2 45.f3 Kf7 46.Rh5 Ke7 47.Rh1 Kd6 48.Rg1 Re2+ 49.Kd4 Rd2+ 50.Kc4 Rc2+ 51.Kd3 Ra2 52.Ke4 Re2+ 53.Kf5 Re7 54.Kg6 Kxd5 55.Rd1+ Kc4 56.f5 Ra7 57.f4 Kc5 58.Rd8 h5 59.Kxh5 Rf7 60.Kg6 Rf6+ 61.Kg5 Rf7 62.f6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2860)-Wesley So (2741) [C50]
lichess.org 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Nbd2 a6 8.a4 Ba7 9.h3 h6 10.Re1 Ne7 11.d4 Ng6 12.Bb3 Re8 13.Bc2 Nh5 14.Nf1 Nhf4 15.Ng3 c6 16.Be3 Qf6 17.Nf5 Bb8 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.Bb6 a5 20.b4 axb4 21.cxb4 Ne7 22.Bd8 Bxf5 23.exf5 Bd6 24.Bxe7 Rxe7 25.g3 Nd5 26.Nh2 Bxb4 27.Ng4 Qd6 28.f6 Nxf6 29.Qxd6 Bxd6 30.Nxf6+ gxf6 31.Bf5 Bc5 32.a5 Bd4 33.Ra4 Kf8 34.Kg2 b5 35.Ra2 Rea7 36.Rc2 c5 37.Be4 Rxa5 38.Bxa8 Rxa8 39.Kf3 f5 40.Ke2 Ke7 41.Rb1 Ra5 42.g4 Ke6 43.Rb3 c4 44.Rb1 f4 45.h4 Kd5 46.g5 h5 47.Rd2 c3 48.Rc2 Kc4 49.Kf3 b4 50.Ke4 b3 51.Rcc1 b2 52.Rxb2 Ra1 53.Rbc2 Rxc1 54.Rxc1 Bxf2 55.Rc2 Be3 56.Rg2 Kb3 57.Kd3 c2 58.Rxc2 e4+ 59.Kxe4 Kxc2 0-1
Wesley So (2741)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2860) [B00]
lichess.org 2020
1.d4 Nc6 2.e4 e5 3.dxe5 Nxe5 4.Nf3 Qf6 5.Nc3 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3 Qxf3 7.gxf3 c6 8.Rg1 Ne7 9.Be3 d5 10.exd5 Nf5 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.Bf4 Bd7 13.Bh3 0-0-0 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Rxd7 1-0
Xiong, J (2730)-Carlsen, M (2881) [B90]
lichess.org 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Nxc6 Rxc6 12.Bh6 Bxh6 13.Qxh6 Rxc3 14.bxc3 Qa5 15.Kd2 Bc6 16.h4 Qxa2 17.Rb1 Qa3 18.Qe3 Qa5 19.g4 Nd7 20.Ra1 Qc5 21.f4 e5 22.Qxc5 dxc5 23.Rhf1 Ke7 24.Ra5 h6 25.fxe5 Nxe5 26.Rxc5 Nxg4 27.e5 Rd8 28.Rf4 h5 29.Rd4 Re8 30.Bxa6 Kf8 31.Bb5 Nxe5 32.Bxc6 bxc6 33.Re4 f6 34.Ke3 Kf7 35.Kf4 Ra8 36.Rexe5 fxe5+ 37.Kxe5 Re8+ 38.Kf4 Re6 39.c4 Rf6+ 40.Ke4 Kg7 41.Re5 Rf1 42.Kd4 Rf4+ 43.Re4 Rxe4+ 44.Kxe4 Kf6 45.Kf4 c5 46.c3 g5+ 47.hxg5+ Kg6 0-1
Carlsen, M (2881)-Xiong, J (2730) [D01]
lichess.org 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Nge2 0-0 6.a3 Be7 7.Ng1 c5 8.Nf3 Nh5 9.dxc5 Nxf4 10.exf4 Bxc5 11.Bd3 g6 12.h4 Nc6 13.h5 Qf6 14.Qd2 e5 15.Nxd5 Qd6 16.Bc4 b5 17.Ba2 exf4 18.0-0-0 b4 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.Ng5 Bf5 21.Nh7 Rfd8 22.Nhf6+ Kf8 23.Rh8+ Kg7 24.Rh7+ Kf8 25.Rdh1 1-0
Carlsen, M (2881)-Xiong, J (2730) [B40]
lichess.org 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 d6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Nc6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Qf3 Ba6 14.Rd1 Nd5 15.Ne4 Qb6 16.Qg3 Qb8 17.Bg5 f6 18.Bd2 Qxg3 19.hxg3 Bd3 20.Nc3 Rfc8 21.Rac1 Kf7 22.Na4 Bb5 23.Nc5 Bxc5 24.Rxc5 Nb6 25.Re1 Re8 26.Ra1 Red8 27.a4 Bc4 28.Bxc4 Rxd4 29.a5 Rxc4 30.axb6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg8!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc7/b7/a7/e7/d6 2.R(x)d6#; 1…Rd8 2.Qxf7#; 1…fxg4+ 2.Kxg4#; 1…f4 2.Rg5#; 1…Sd4+/c3 2.R(x)d4#; 1…Sf4 2.Kxf4#; 1…Sg3 2.Rd4, Kxg3#; 1…Sxb3/d3/a2 2.Kxe2#; 1…Bf2/h2 2.K(x)f2#; 1…Bxe3 2.Kxe3#./PN
