The fourth leg of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour – dubbed the Legends of Chess Tournament -started in earnest July 21st at the chess24.com server. The event has six illustrious players from the previous generation – Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko and Peter Svidler – joining Magnus Carlsen, Liren Ding, Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi in a rather unique rapid format (15 minutes + 10 seconds increment) where the 10 GMs play a preliminary single round robin of four matches each with the top four scorers advancing to the finals. The scoring will be 3 points for a win in 4 games, 2 points for an Armageddon win, and 1 point for a loss in Armageddon.
The opening round encounters saw Carlsen and Gelfand decisively defeating Giri and Ding via 3-1 tallies, and Svidler narrowly beating Anand, 2½-1½. Nepomniachtchi and Leko won 3-2 in Armageddon versus Kramnik and Vassily Ivanchuk, respectively, after a level score at regulation.
Round 1 standings: 1-3. Gelfand, Carlsen, Svidler, 3; 4-5. Leko, Nepomniachtchi, 2; 6-7. Kramnik, Ivanchuk, 1; 8-10. Anand, Giri, Ding, 0.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Giri, A (2764) [E68]
chess24.com (1.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nc5 10.h3 Re8 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bf4 Nh5 13.Be3 c6 14.Qc2 a5 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.Qd2 a4 17.Nde2 Be6 18.Qxd6 Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Ra5 20.Rc1 Bf8 21.Rd4 Raa8 22.g4 Nf6 23.f4 Nfd7 24.Nd1 f6 25.Nf2 Bf7 26.h4 h6 27.Ng3 g5 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.fxg5 fxg5 30.Bxg5 Ne5 31.Be3 Red8 32.Nf5 Rxd4 33.Bxd4 Re8 34.Rc3 Ng6 35.b3 Nf4 36.Bf1 Nce6 37.Be3 a3 38.e5 Rd8 39.Ne4 Rd1 40.Nf6+ Kh8 41.Rc2 Nh3+ 42.Kg2 Neg5 43.Rc1 Rd8 44.Kg3 1-0
Svidler, P (2723)-Anand, V (2753) [A08]
chess24.com (1.4) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nb3 Nc6 8.Nc3 e6 9.Be3 0-0 10.Bc5 Re8 11.Nb5 b6 12.Ba3 Ba6 13.c4 Ne5 14.Nd6 Nxc4 15.Nxe8 Nxe8 16.Rc1 Nxb2 17.Bxb2 Bxb2 18.Rc2 Bg7 19.Qc1 Nd6 20.Rd1 Bb7 21.Qf4 a5 22.Nd2 b5 23.Rdc1 b4 24.Rc5 e5 25.Qe3 Nf5 26.Qb3 e4 27.e3 Bf8 28.Rc7 a4 29.Qc2 Nd6 30.Bh3 Ba6 31.Qc6 Nb5 32.Rd7 Qe8 33.Qxd5 Nc3 34.Rxc3 bxc3 35.Nxe4 Be7 36.Rxe7 1-0
Ivanchuk, V (2678)-Leko, P (2663) [C34]
chess24.com (1.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 h6 4.d4 g5 5.g3 fxg3 6.hxg3 Bg7 7.Nc3 d6 8.Be3 Nf6 9.Qd2 Ng4 10.Bg1 Nc6 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.Nh2 Nxh2 13.Rxh2 Bg4 14.Re1 Ne7 15.Bg2 Qd7 16.Be3 Ng6 17.Reh1 c6 18.Rxh6 Bxh6 19.Rxh6 Kg7 20.Bxg5 f6 21.Be3 Rh8 22.b3 Rxh6 23.Bxh6+ Kh7 24.Bf1 Bh3 25.Be2 Re8 26.Kb2 b5 27.Bd3 Qg4 28.Be3 b4 29.Nd1 Qxg3 30.Qxb4 Bg4 31.e5 f5 32.Qxd6 Bxd1 33.Bxf5 Rg8 34.Bd2 Bg4 35.Qe7+ Rg7 36.Qg5 Qh2 37.Bxg4 Ne7 38.Qh5+ Qxh5 39.Bxh5 Rg2 40.Bb4 Nd5 41.Bf3 Rf2 42.Bxd5 cxd5 43.Bc5 a6 44.b4 Kg6 45.a4 Kf5 46.b5 axb5 47.axb5 Ke6 48.b6 Kd7 49.Kb3 Kc6 50.c4 dxc4+ 51.Kxc4 Rf4 52.e6 Re4 53.e7 Kd7 54.b7 Kc7 55.Bd6+ Kxb7 56.Be5 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Gelfand, B (2676) [B30]
chess24.com (1.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3 Qc7 6.Nbd2 e5 7.Nh4 Ne7 8.f4 exf4 9.0-0 h6 10.b3 g5 11.Bb2 Rg8 12.Nf5 d5 13.Qh5 Bxf5 14.exf5 Nxf5 15.Rfe1+ Ne3 16.Nf1 d4 0-1
Kramnik, V (2753)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [A04]
chess24.com (1.5) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.b3 g6 4.Bb2 Bg7 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bxg7 Kxg7 9.0-0 Nc6 10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4+ Nf6 13.Qe3 Qb6 14.Qxb6 axb6 15.Nc3 Be6 16.Bxb7 Ra7 17.Bf3 Rc8 18.Nb5 Ra5 19.Nd4 Bd5 20.a4 e5 21.b4 Raa8 22.Nb5 e4 23.Bg2 Rc4 24.Rfb1 Bc6 25.Na3 Rc3 26.a5 bxa5 27.b5 Bd5 28.b6 a4 29.Nb5 Rb3 30.Nc7 Rb8 31.Rd1 Bc6 32.g4 h6 33.h4 Nxg4 34.Rd6 R8xb6 35.Bf1 a3 36.h5 gxh5 37.e3 Ne5 38.Kh2 Rb2 39.Kg3 h4+ 40.Kf4 Ng6+ 41.Kg4 Rxf2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd7! Black’s futile options are 1…b5 2.Qa7#; 1…f5 2.Qg7#; 1…Qxc3/e2/f1/c4/b5/a6 2.Qg4#; 1…Qxe3/c2/b1/e4/f5/g6/h7 2.Qa4#; 1…Sa2/e2 2.Sxb3#; 1…Sc2/g2 2.Sxf3#./PN
