Hikaru Nakamura became the first player to advance to the semifinals round of the ongoing Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge on the chess24.com playing server after defeating Levon Aronian, 3-1, in their second match on May 25.
Nakamura earned his rest time and will just wait for the winner of the Magnus Carlsen versus Weslery So showdown to tangle with.
Liren Ding, meanwhile, slammed his countryman Yangyi Yu, 2½-1½, to forge a third and deciding match, determining who will advance to the semifinals.
Losing quarterfinalists will get $8,000 each while losing semifinalists will take home $15,000 in this rapid event – second in a series of five chess events making up the well-funded Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Aronian, L (2773) [C42]
chess24.com (1.21) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bf5 12.Bg5 Qa5 13.Re1 Nd7 14.Nh4 Nb6 15.Bb3 Rae8 16.Nxf5 Rxe1+ 17.Qxe1 Qxf5 18.Bd2 Nd5 19.Qe2 Nf6 20.Re1 h6 21.f3 Re8 22.Qd1 Rxe1+ 23.Bxe1 Nd5 24.g3 b5 25.Qe2 Qd7 26.a4 a6 27.c4 Nc7 28.Kg2 Ne6 29.Bf2 Qe7 30.Qe4 bxa4 31.Bc2 Qg5 32.c5 Bc7 33.Bxa4 h5 34.h4 Qd2 35.Bb3 Nd8 36.Qe8+ Kh7 37.Bxf7 Nxf7 38.Qxf7 Ba5 39.Qf5+ 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Yu, Y (2709) [D27]
chess24.com (1.21) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Be2 Be7 8.dxc5 0-0 9.b4 a5 10.b5 Bxc5 11.Nc3 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 a4 13.Ne5 Nbd7 14.Nd3 Be7 15.e4 a3 16.Be3 e5 17.f3 h6 18.Rab1 Rd8 19.Nb4 Kf8 20.Kf2 Ra5 21.Nbd5 Nxd5 22.Nxd5 Ra4 23.Rbc1 Ra8 24.Nxe7 Kxe7 25.Rc7 Ke8 26.Bc4 Ra4 27.Bb3 Ra8 28.b6 Ra6 29.h4 Ra5 30.g4 Kf8 31.g5 hxg5 32.hxg5 g6 33.Rdc1 Ra8 34.Bc5+ Kg7 35.Be7 Re8 36.Rxd7 Bxd7 37.Bf6+ 1-0
Aronian, L (2773)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C65]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Bg4 9.Nbd2 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Nc4 Nxg3 12.fxg3 Qe7 13.c3 0-0-0 14.b4 Kb8 15.a3 h5 16.Ne3 Bc8 17.c4 f5 18.Nxf5 Bxf5 19.exf5 e4 20.Re1 e3 21.Qc1 g4 22.Nh4 Rhe8 23.c5 Be5 24.Qxe3 Qd7 25.Qc1 Bd4+ 26.Kh1 Rxe1+ 27.Qxe1 Bxa1 28.Qxa1 Qxd3 0-1
Ding, L (2791)-Yu, Y (2709) [D27]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Nbd2 Nc6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.a3 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.b4 Be7 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Nb3 a5 14.Nc5 Bxc5 15.bxc5 Qxd1 16.Rfxd1 b4 17.axb4 axb4 18.Nd2 Na5 19.Ra4 Nd5 20.Rda1 Nc3 21.Bxc3 bxc3 22.Rxa5 cxd2 23.f3 Rxa5 24.Rxa5 Bd5 25.Bd1 f5 26.Kf2 Rd8 27.Ra4 Rb8 28.Ke2 Rb5 29.e4 fxe4 30.fxe4 Bc6 31.Rc4 Rb2 32.Rc2 Rb4 33.Kxd2 Bxe4 34.Rc3 Bxg2 35.c6 Bxc6 36.Rxc6 Rh4 37.Rxe6 Rxh2+ 38.Re2 Rxe2+ 39.Bxe2 g6 40.Ke3 Kg7 41.Kf4 Kf6 ½-½
Yu, Y (2709)-Ding, L (2791) [C58]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3 cxb5 9.Qxa8 Be7 10.0-0 h6 11.Ne4 Qd7 12.Nxf6+ gxf6 13.Qe4 Rg8 14.f3 Bc5+ 15.d4 Bxd4+ 16.Be3 Qh3 17.Rf2 Bb7 18.Qh7 Rxg2+ 19.Rxg2 Bxe3+ 20.Kh1 Qxf3 21.Qg8+ Ke7 22.Nc3 Bg5 23.Rag1 Qf2 24.Qb8 Bxg2+ 25.Rxg2 Qf1+ 26.Rg1 Qf3+ 27.Rg2 Qf1+ 28.Rg1 Qf3+ 29.Rg2 Qf1+ ½-½
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd8!. Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe3 2.Se4#; 1…dxc3 2.Sdc4#; 1…Kxc3 2.Rb3#; 1…Kxe3 2.Rg3#./PN
