There will be no stopping world chess champion Magnus Carlsen from winning the preliminary stage of the ongoing Legends of Chess Online Rapid Tournament at the chess24.com server after beating second-running Ian Nepomniachtchi in Armageddon in Round 8 action Tuesday. Both have already qualified earlier for the four-player semifinal knockout phase.
Two other Round 8 matches were decided in Armageddon, with Vassily Ivanchuk getting the better of Anish Giri and Boris Gelfand prevailing over Peter Leko. In the other tiffs, Liren Ding crushed Viswanathan Anand, 2½-½, and Peter Svidler vanquished Vladimir Kramnik by a similar score. As things now stand and with but a round to go, it will appear that Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Giri, and Svidler will make the top four advancing to the semifinal knockout stage. Kramnik and Ivanchuk, however, still carry slim mathematical chances of advancing.
The standings after Round 8: 1. Carlsen, 22; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 19; 3. Giri, 15; 4. Svidler, 14; 5. Kramnik, 12; 6. Ivanchuk, 11; 7. Gelfand, 9; 8-10. Leko. Anand, Ding, 6.
Kramnik, V (2753)-Svidler, P (2723) [B84]
chess24.com (8.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Bf3 Nc6 10.g4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 e5 12.Qd3 Nxg4 13.Nd5 Bh4+ 14.Ke2 Qc6 15.Rag1 Nxe3 16.Nxe3 g6 17.f5 Bd7 18.Rd1 0-0-0 19.c4 Qb6 20.Rd2 Bc6 21.Qc3 Rhg8 22.b4 gxf5 23.Nxf5 Qf2+ 24.Kd1 Ba4+ 25.Kc1 Bg5 26.Bh5 Bf4 27.Ng3 Kb8 28.Bd1 Bc6 29.Bc2 f5 30.Rhd1 fxe4 31.Kb2 Bxd2 32.Rxd2 Qf3 33.b5 Qxc3+ 34.Kxc3 e3 35.Re2 axb5 36.cxb5 Bxb5 37.Rxe3 Rg7 38.Kb4 Bc6 39.Bb3 Rg4+ 40.Ka3 Rh4 41.Re2 Rf8 42.Bc2 e4 43.Kb2 d5 44.Kc3 Kc7 45.Kd4 e3+ 46.Kxe3 Re8+ 0-1
Anand,V (2753)-Ding, L (2791) [B90]
chess24.com (8.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 h6 8.Bg2 Be7 9.Be3 Nc6 10.f4 Nd7 11.Nf3 b5 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.0-0-0 Na5 14.b3 Rc8 15.Kb1 Qc7 16.Ne2 Bxe4 17.Rc1 d5 18.Ng3 Ba3 19.Bd4 0-0 20.g5 Nc5 21.Bxc5 Qxc5 22.gxh6 Nc4 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D85]
chess24.com (8.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Be3 Nc6 14.d5 Na5 15.Bg5 Qa3 16.Re1 Bc3 17.Qd3 Rfc8 18.Red1 b6 19.h3 Bd7 20.Rdc1 f6 21.Bd2 Bb2 22.Rxc8+ Rxc8 23.Qa6 Qa2 24.Rxb2 Qxb2 25.Qxa7 Qa1+ 26.Kh2 Qa4 27.Bd1 Qxd1 28.Qxd7 Qc2 29.Qe6+ Kh8 30.d6 exd6 31.Qxf6+ Kg8 32.Bh6 Qc7 33.Qe6+ Kh8 34.Ng5 1-0
Gelfand, B (2676)-Leko, P (2663) [D38]
chess24.com (8.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Qc2 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.0-0 b6 13.f4 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 Bb7 15.Bd3 Re8 16.Rae1 Be4 17.Bxe4 Nxe4 18.Be5 Nd6 19.e4 Qe7 20.Rd1 f6 21.Bxd6 cxd6 22.Rd4 Rac8 23.Qd3 Rc6 24.h3 h6 25.Kh2 Kh8 26.Rd1 Qc7 27.Rd2 Re6 28.a3 Qe7 29.Rc2 Rc5 30.b4 Rxc2 31.Qxc2 b5 32.Qc6 Qe8 33.Qxe8+ Rxe8 34.Kg3 Kh7 35.Rxd6 Rxe4 36.Kf3 Re7 37.Rd5 Rb7 38.Ke4 Rb6 39.Kd4 Ra6 40.Rxb5 Rxa3 41.Ra5 Rg3 42.Rxa7 Rxg2 43.b5 Rb2 44.Kc5 Rc2+ 45.Kd5 Rd2+ 46.Kc6 Rc2+ 47.Kb7 Rc4 48.f5 Rc5 49.b6 Rxf5 50.Kc6 Rf3 51.Ra5 Rc3+ 52.Rc5 Re3 53.b7 Re8 54.Kd7 Rb8 55.Kc7 Rf8 56.b8Q Rxb8 57.Kxb8 g5 58.Kc7 Kg6 59.Kd6 f5 60.Ke5 f4 61.Ke4 Kh5 62.Rc6 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Ivanchuk, V (2678) [A15]
chess24.com (8.3) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.d4 Bb7 4.g3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.b3 g6 7.Bb2 Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Qc2 a6 12.Rfe1 Nbd7 13.e4 e6 14.dxe6 Rxe6 15.Ng5 Re7 16.Rad1 Qc7 17.Nh3 Rae8 18.Nf4 Bh6 19.Qc3 b4 20.Qd3 Bg7 21.f3 Ne5 22.Qc2 g5 23.Nd3 Nc6 24.Nf1 Nd4 25.Qf2 g4 26.Bxd4 cxd4 27.Nd2 a5 28.Re2 gxf3 29.Bxf3 Bc8 30.Nf4 Qc5 31.Rf1 Bh6 32.Kh1 Kh8 33.Nd3 Qa7 34.Nf4 Ng4 35.Bxg4 Bxg4 36.Ree1 f5 37.exf5 Re3 38.f6 Qf7 39.Nd5 Re2 40.Rxe2 Rxe2 41.Qxd4 Bh3 42.Qh4 Bg2+ 43.Kg1 Bxd2 44.Rf2 Qa7 45.g4 Bxd5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne4! Black’s futile options are 1…Sf4 2.Bd4#; 1…Se3 2.Bg3#; 1…Kxe6 2.Qe7#; 1…Kxe4 2.Re3#; 1…Sa8/c8/d7/a4/c4 2.Qxd5#./PN
