Magnus Carlsen repeated over Wesley So, 2½-½, to become the second semifinalist in the ongoing Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge which is being played on the chess24.com playing server.
But while Carlsen demolished Wesley and advanced, Sergey Karjakin defeated Daniil Dubov in Armageddon, 3-2, to level the count and force a third and final match to see who gets a semis slot.
So now, the winner of Karjakin versus Dubov plus the victor of Liren Ding against Yangyi Yu will be joining Hikaru Nakamura and Carlsen in the semifinals phase.
Nakamura earlier knocked out Levon Aronian while Ding managed to stave off defeat by leveling the score with Yu – forcing a third match.
The semifinals pairing will be Nakamura against Carlsen and the winner of the Karjakin-Dubov match versus the winner of the Ding-Yu match.
Karjakin, S (2752)-Dubov, D (2699) [B00]
chess24.com (1.21) 2020
1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c3 e6 5.Be3 f6 6.f4 fxe5 7.fxe5 Nh6 8.Nf3 Be7 9.Bxh6 gxh6 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Kd7 12.Nbd2 Qg8 13.0-0 Qg6 14.Qxg6 hxg6 15.Ne1 a5 16.a4 Raf8 17.Nd3 b6 18.g3 h5 19.Kg2 Bg5 20.Nf3 Bh6 21.h3 Ne7 22.g4 Bf4 23.Nxf4 Rxf4 24.Ng5 Rxf1 25.Rxf1 hxg4 26.hxg4 c5 27.Rf6 cxd4 28.cxd4 Rc8 29.Rxe6 Rc6 30.Rxc6 Nxc6 31.Nf3 Nd8 32.Kf2 Ne6 33.Ke3 g5 34.Kd2 Kc6 35.Kc3 b5 36.axb5+ Kxb5 37.Kb3 a4+ 38.Ka3 Ka5 39.b3 axb3 40.Kxb3 Kb5 41.Kc3 Ka5 42.Ne1 Nf4 43.Ng2 Ne6 44.Ne3 Nc7 45.e6 Kb5 46.e7 Kc6 47.Kb4 Kd6 48.Nf5+ Kd7 49.Kc5 Ne8 50.Ne3 Nf6 51.e8Q+ Kxe8 52.Kd6 Kf7 53.Ke5 Kg6 54.Ke6 Kg7 55.Kf5 Ne4 56.Nxd5 Nd6+ 57.Ke6 Nc4 58.Ne7 Kf8 59.d5 Na5 60.Ng6+ Ke8 61.d6 Nb3 62.Ne5 Nd4+ 63.Kf6 Nb5 64.d7+ Kd8 65.Kxg5 Ke7 66.Kh6 Nd4 67.g5 Ne6 68.g6 Kf8 69.Nc6 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (1.21) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bc2 Bb6 10.Re1 Ne7 11.d4 Ng6 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bb7 14.Ng3 h6 15.Bd2 c5 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Qc1 c4 18.Nf5 Re6 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.Qxe3 Qc7 21.Rad1 Rae8 22.Rd2 Nf4 23.Kh2 Rd8 24.Rxd8+ Qxd8 25.Nxe5 Nxg2 26.Qg3 Nh5 27.Qxg2 Rxe5 28.Nxh6+ Kf8 29.Ng4 Re6 30.Qf3 Qd2 31.Re2 Qd6+ 32.Kg1 Nf4 33.Re1 f5 34.Ne3 fxe4 35.Qg3 Nd3 36.Qxd6+ Rxd6 37.Rd1 Rg6+ 38.Kf1 Bc8 39.h4 Bh3+ 40.Ke2 Rf6 41.Bxd3 exd3+ 42.Ke1 Rf4 43.b3 Be6 44.bxc4 Bxc4 45.a4 Rxh4 46.axb5 axb5 47.Kd2 Kf7 48.Ra1 Rf4 49.Ra7+ Kf6 50.Ra6+ Kg5 51.Ke1 d2+ 52.Kxd2 Rxf2+ 53.Kd1 Rf4 54.Rc6 Kh5 55.Rc8 g5 56.Rh8+ Kg6 57.Ke1 g4 58.Rh4 Kg5 59.Rh7 Rf3 60.Kd2 Rf2+ 61.Kd1 g3 0-1
Karjakin, S (2752)-Dubov, D (2699) [B01]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nb5 Qd8 7.Bf4 Nd5 8.Bg3 a6 9.Na3 e5 10.dxe5 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 h5 12.h4 Bg4 13.Be2 Bxa3 14.Bxg4 Bxb2 15.Bxh5 Bxa1 16.e6 g6 17.Bf3 Bf6 18.exf7+ Kxf7 19.Be4 Nc3 20.Qg4 Nxe4 21.Nxe4 Qc8 22.Qf4 Qf5 23.Qxc7+ Kg8 24.f3 Rh7 25.Qd6 Re8 26.0-0 Bd4+ 27.Bf2 Rd7 28.Qa3 Rxe4 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E04]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Na3 Bxa3 9.bxa3 b5 10.Qb1 c6 11.e4 h6 12.g4 Nh7 13.h4 e5 14.Nxe5 Qxd4 15.Bf4 Re8 16.Qc1 Qc5 17.Rd1 Na6 18.Nxc6 Qxc6 19.e5 Qc5 20.Bxa8 Bxg4 21.Be3 Qxe5 22.Rd4 Nf6 23.Bc6 Re6 24.Bg2 Nc5 25.Qc3 Kh7 26.Qxa5 Nd3 27.Rb1 Qf5 28.Rxb5 Qg6 29.Qa8 Ne5 30.Rd8 Ne8 31.Rxe8 Rxe8 32.Qxe8 Nf3+ 33.Kh1 Qd3 34.Bd2 Qxd2 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Karjakin, S (2752) [A53]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.e3 Bg7 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 c6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Bb2 e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Qe2 Re8 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.Ne4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Nc5 17.Bc2 a5 18.Ba3 Bf8 19.Rd2 e4 20.Rad1 Qe5 21.Bxc5 Bxc5 22.Rd7 b6 23.g3 h5 24.h4 Re6 25.Rd8+ Rxd8 26.Rxd8+ Kg7 27.Kg2 Qb2 28.Bd1 Qf6 29.Qd2 Re5 30.Rd7 Rf5 31.Bc2 Qe5 32.Qd1 Rf6 33.Rd2 Kh6 34.Qb1 Re6 35.Rd8 Qf6 36.Qd1 Bd6 37.Rd7 Bc5 38.Rd8 Kg7 39.Rd7 Re8 40.Kg1 Qb2 41.Rd2 Qe5 42.Rd7 Bxe3 43.fxe3 Qxg3+ 44.Kf1 Re6 45.Ke2 Qg2+ 46.Ke1 Rf6 47.Qd4 Qxc2 48.Rd6 Qf2+ 49.Kd1 Qg1+ 50.Kc2 Qh2+ 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Karjakin, S (2752) [D55]
chess24.com (1.25) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qb3 c6 10.Bd3 Re8 11.h3 Nd7 12.0-0 Nf8 13.Rae1 Ne6 14.Nh2 h5 15.f4 c5 16.Bb5 cxd4 17.Nxd5 Rf8 18.e4 Bh4 19.Rc1 a6 20.Bd3 Bg3 21.f5 Nc7 22.Nb6 Rb8 23.Nf3 Nb5 24.Nd5 Nc7 25.Nxc7 Bxc7 26.e5 b5 27.Qc2 Ba5 28.Qe2 Bb7 29.f6 Qd5 30.Nh4 g6 31.Nf5 Rbe8 32.Ne7+ Rxe7 33.fxe7 Re8 34.e6 f5 35.a4 Rxe7 36.axb5 Rxe6 37.Qf3 Qxf3 38.gxf3 axb5 39.Bxb5 Rb6 40.Bc4+ Kf8 41.b3 Bd2 42.Ra1 Be3+ 43.Kg2 g5 44.Ra7 g4 45.hxg4 hxg4 46.Be2 Rxb3 47.Ra5 f4 48.Rh1 gxf3+ 49.Bxf3 Rb2+ 50.Kh3 Bxf3 51.Rha1 Rb7 52.Rf5+ Rf7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc4 2.Be4#; 1…Re4 2.Sxe4#; 1…Bc4 2.Be6#./PN
