Hikaru Nakamura and Daniil Dubov defeated semifinal opponents Magnus Carlsen and Liren Ding, respectively, to arrange a championship showdown in the ongoing Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge which is being played on the chess24.com playing server.
Nakamura and Dubov scored contrasting victories.
After losing the first semifinal match, Nakamura bounced back by taking the next two contests. Nakamura won his third and final match via Armageddon, but he admitted that Carlsen seemingly had an off day.
On the other hand, Dubov crushed Ding – needing only two mini-matches to snag the first finals slot.
The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge is the second leg of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The Magnus Carlsen Invitational, which was won by Carlsen himself, was the first leg.
The third leg, dubbed as the Online Chess Masters Knockout, will start June 20 with a $150,000 prize fund and will also be played on the chess24.com playing server.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C81]
chess24.com (2.32) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rd1 0-0 11.c4 bxc4 12.Bxc4 Bc5 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 Qb8 15.Bb3 Na5 16.Nd4 c5 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.f3 c4 19.fxe4 cxb3 20.exd5 bxa2 21.Rxa2 Nc4 22.Qd4 Qb3 23.Nc3 Nxb2 24.Rb1 Qc4 25.Qxc4 Nxc4 26.dxe6 Rf5 27.Nd5 Rxe5 28.Rxa6 Re8 29.Nc7 Rd8 30.Rc6 Ne3 31.Rd6 Rc8 32.Rd7 h6 33.e7 Kh7 34.Re1 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (2.33) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.0-0 Nb6 9.Qc2 Nfd5 10.Bg3 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Rfd1 Bd7 13.Ne5 Rc8 14.Rac1 Nb4 15.Qe4 N4d5 16.Qf3 Ba4 17.Nxa4 Nxa4 18.e4 Nxb2 19.exd5 Nxd1 20.Rxd1 exd5 21.Bxc4 Qe7 22.Bxd5 Bd6 23.Bxf7+ Kh8 24.Qh5 Bxe5 25.Bg6 h6 26.Bxe5 Qg5 27.Qxg5 hxg5 28.h4 Rc5 29.Bb2 Rb5 30.Ba3 Rc8 31.h5 Ra5 32.Bb2 Rxa2 33.Rd2 Kg8 34.Bb1 Ra5 35.Rd7 Rb5 36.Ba2+ Kh7 37.Bxg7 g4 38.Be5+ Kh6 39.Bf4+ Kxh5 40.Bf7+ Kh4 41.Kh2 g3+ 42.fxg3+ Kg4 43.Be6+ Kh5 44.Rh7+ Kg6 45.Rh6+ Kg7 46.Bxc8 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (2.35) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 Nd5 10.Bg3 c5 11.Bxc4 cxd4 12.exd4 N7b6 13.Bb3 a5 14.Ne5 Bd7 15.Ne4 Bc6 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Rc1 Nb4 18.Qe2 N6d5 19.Rfd1 Re8 20.Qf3 Ra7 21.Be5 Bf8 22.Qg3 f6 23.Bd6 Bxd6 24.Nxd6 Rf8 25.Ne4 Qb8 26.Qf3 Re8 27.g3 Kh8 28.Nc5 Rae7 29.Bc4 e5 30.dxe5 Qxe5 31.Rd2 Qg5 32.Nb3 Nb6 33.h4 Qe5 34.Re2 Qc7 35.Rxe7 Qxe7 36.Nxa5 Qe5 37.Nb3 Nxa4 38.Bf7 Rf8 39.Rc4 Rxf7 40.Rxb4 Qe1+ 41.Kh2 Qxb4 42.Qxc6 Rf8 0-1
Ding, L (2791)-Dubov, D (2699) [A15]
chess24.com (2.21) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Na3 Nb6 7.Qc2 Be6 8.Ne5 h5 9.Naxc4 Nxc4 10.Nxc4 h4 11.Ne5 hxg3 12.hxg3 Qc8 13.Rd1 Bh3 14.Bf3 g6 15.b4 Bg7 16.Bb2 Kf8 17.a4 Nh7 18.b5 Ng5 19.bxc6 Bxe5 20.Bxe5 Nxf3+ 21.exf3 Bg2 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Ding, L (2791) [E10]
chess24.com (2.22) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Qc2 c6 8.h4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 dxc4 10.Rd1 b5 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd5 13.Ne4 f5 14.exf6 gxf6 15.b3 cxb3 16.axb3 Qb6 17.0-0 a5 18.Rc1 Bd7 19.Bh6 Rfc8 20.Rfd1 a4 21.bxa4 Rxa4 22.Qb2 Rb4 23.Qa1 Qd8 24.Rc2 Qe8 25.Nc5 Qg6 26.Qc1 Bxc5 27.Rxc5 Kf7 28.h5 Qxh5 29.e4 Rc4 30.Rxc4 bxc4 31.Be3 Nxe3 32.Rxd7+ Ke8 33.Qd2 Rb8 34.fxe3 c3 35.Qd6 Rb1+ 36.Bf1 Rxf1+ 37.Kxf1 Qf3+ 38.Ke1 Qxe3+ 39.Kd1 Qf3+ 40.Kc2 Qxe4+ 41.Qd3 Qa4+ 42.Kxc3 Qa3+ 43.Kd2 Qa5+ 44.Kd1 Qh5+ 45.Ke1 Qe5+ 46.Kf1 Qa1+ 47.Kg2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sf7 2.Bd7, Qh7#; 1…Sf6 2.Bg6#; 1…Se5 2.Rxe5#; 1…Se3/f2/h2 2.Bg6/d7, Re5#./PN
