With just a round to go in the group stage of the ongoing FIDE Grand Prix Series opening leg in Berlin, only one player has successfully hurdled it and has advanced to the knockout semifinal round.
Levon Aronian defeated Vincent Keymer in Round 5 action Wednesday and advanced to the semifinals with a round to spare after erecting an insurmountable 1½-point lead. The rest of the groups still have unclear outcomes. In Group A, Hikaru Nakamura has a half-point lead over Andrey Esipenko after ousting Alexander Grischuk in 42 moves of a King’s Indian Averbakh. Esipenko, meanwhile, also ousted Etienne Bacrot, clobbering the French GM in 44 moves of a Ruy Lopez. In Group B, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Vladimir Fedoseev played a quick draw to remain tied for first. Wojtaszek has to beat Grigory Oparin to secure the semis slot while Fedoseev needs to get past Richard Rapport. In Group D. Wesley So remained on top of the standings with Leinier Dominguez Perez trying hard to level up.
Here are the standings after Round 4:
GpA 1. Nakamura, 3½; 2. Esipenko,3; 3. Grischuk, 2; 4. Bacrot, 1½.
GpB 1-2. Wojtaszek, Fedoseev, 3; 3. Rapport, 2½; 4. Oparin, 1½.
GpC 1. Aronian, 4; 2-3. Vidit, Dubov, 2½; 4. Keymer, 1.
GpD 1. So, 3½; 2. Dominguez Perez, 3; Harikrishna, 2; 4. Shirov, 1½.
Nakamura,H (2736)-Grischuk,A (2764) [E73]
Berlin A (5.1) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Na6 8.h4 Nc5 9.Qc2 c6 10.h5 cxd5 11.cxd5 Qa5 12.h6 Bh8 13.f3 Bd7 14.Rb1 Na4 15.Qd2 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qc7 17.g4 Bc8 18.Nh3 Nd7 19.Nf2 Bf6 20.0-0 Be7 21.Kh2 Nc5 22.Nd3 b6 23.Nxc5 bxc5 24.f4 exf4 25.Bxf4 Bd7 26.c4 Rab8 27.Qc3 f6 28.Rb3 Rb6 29.g5 Rf7 30.Bc1 Qd8 31.Bb2 Qf8 32.Kg2 Bd8 33.Qf3 Bc8 34.Qe3 Rxb3 35.axb3 fxg5 36.Qc3 Rxf1 37.Qh8+ Kf7 38.Qxh7+ Ke8 39.Qxg6+ Ke7 40.Qxg5+ Rf6 41.h7 Kd7 42.Qg8 1-0
Bacrot,E (2642)-Esipenko,A (2714) [C88]
Berlin A (5.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Qxd8 Rxd8 13.Nd2 Bc5 14.Nf3 Re8 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Rxe3 Bb7 17.Rd1 Kf8 18.Nd2 Red8 19.f3 a5 20.Bc4 Bc6 21.b3 Nd7 22.Be2 Nc5 23.Kf2 f6 24.c3 Be8 25.Ke1 Bf7 26.cxb4 axb4 27.Bc4 Rd4 28.Rc1 Bxc4 29.Rxc4 Rxc4 30.Nxc4 Rd8 31.g3 Ke7 32.Ke2 Rd4 33.Nd2 g5 34.Kd1 h5 35.Kc2 g4 36.f4 exf4 37.gxf4 h4 38.a5 Kd7 39.Kd1 g3 40.hxg3 hxg3 41.Kc2 g2 42.Re1 Nd3 43.Ra1 Nxf4 44.a6 Kc6 0-1
Wojtaszek,R (2686)-Fedoseev,V (2704) [D37]
Berlin B (5.2) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be2 Bf5 12.0-0 Bf6 13.Be5 Rc8 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.Nd4 Ne6 16.Nxf5 Qxf5 17.Bg4 Qe5 18.Qb3 Rc4 19.Bf3 Nc5 20.Qd1 Rd8 21.Be2 Rh4 22.g3 Rh6 23.Qd4 Qxd4 24.exd4 Nb3 25.Rad1 Rc6 26.Rd3 Nc1 27.Rd2 Nb3 28.Rd3 Nc1 29.Rd2 Nb3 30.Rd3 Nc1 ½-½
Keymer,V (2664)-Aronian,L (2772) [D38]
Berlin C (5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Qe7 8.Bd2 dxc4 9.Bxc4 e5 10.d5 Qc5 11.Ne4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 Ne7 13.Nxe5 Bf5 14.Qf4 Bxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Qb4+ 16.Kc1 Qc5 17.g4 g5 18.b4 Qxb4 19.Qd4 Ng6 20.Bb3 Qa3+ 21.Kd2 c5 22.Qc3 Nxe5 23.gxf5 Rfe8 24.Rhg1 b5 25.Rxg5+ Kh8 26.Bd1 Qa6 27.Be2 Rad8 28.e4 Qa4 29.Rh5 Qxe4 30.Rg1 Rxd5+ 31.Kc1 Qf4+ 32.Kb1 Rd4 33.Bxb5 Rb4+ 34.Ka1 Rxb5 35.Re1 f6 0-1
Harikrishna,P (2717)-Dominguez Perez,L (2752) [B22]
Berlin D (5.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.Bc2 Nb4 9.h3 Nxc2+ 10.Qxc2 Bd7 11.Nc3 Qc8 12.Qd3 Bf5 13.Qg3 e6 14.Nge2 Qc4 15.Be3 Rc8 16.0-0 h5 17.Rac1 h4 18.Qf3 Qc6 19.Bg5 Qd7 20.Nf4 Nc4 21.Qe2 Bb4 22.a3 Ba5 23.a4 a6 24.Rfd1 Bd8 25.Bxd8 Qxd8 26.Nd3 Qb6 27.Nc5 Qxb2 28.Qf3 Bc2 29.Re1 b6 30.Nxa6 Nd2 31.Qe3 Qxc3 32.Qxc3 Rxc3 33.Nb4 Kd7 34.Rxc2 Rxc2 35.Nxc2 Rc8 36.Ne3 Ra8 37.Ra1 Nb3 38.Rb1 Nxd4 39.Rxb6 Nc6 40.Ng4 Rxa4 41.Rb7+ Ke8 42.Rc7 Ne7 43.Kf1 Ng6 44.Rc8+ Kd7 45.Rg8 Nf4 46.Kg1 d4 47.Rb8 d3 48.Ne3 d2 49.Rb1 Ne2+ 50.Kh2 Nc3 51.Rb3 Re4 0-1
Shirov,A (2704)-So,Wesley (2772) [C67]
Berlin D (5.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h5 11.Bf4 Bb4 12.Ne2 Be6 13.Ned4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 Bd5 15.a3 Be7 16.Nf5 Be4 17.Nxe7 Kxe7 18.Rac1 Ke6 19.f3 Bg6 20.Bg5 h4 21.Rfd1 Kf5 22.Bd2 Rad8 23.Be1 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Ke6 25.c4 Bc2 26.Rd4 c5 27.Rg4 Rh7 28.f4 Kf5 29.Bc3 Ke6 30.Be1 Kf5 31.Bc3 Ke6 ½-½
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Re3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bg7 2.Be6#; 1…Rg4 2.Bf7#; 1…Nb3+/c2 2.Q(x)b3#.
