MAGNUS Carlsen and Wesley So opened their quest for a semi-finals berth by winning the first set of their Meltwater Champions Chess Tour – Magnus Carlsen Invitational quarterfinal matches on March 16 at the chess24.com server.
Carlsen and Wesley defeated Levon Aronian and Aliresa Firouzja, respectively, via identical 2½-½ scores, and need only draw the second set to enter the semi-finals. Each set is composed of four 15m+10s rapid games. The two won their first two games and then drew their third for the tally. Meanwhile, the other two quarterfinal matches – Hikaru Nakamura vs. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Anish Giri vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – were drawn at two-all, with the players trading wins and draws.
Drawn matches will be resolved by a play-off consisting of two blitz games, followed by an Armageddon game if necessary to determine who advances to the semi-finals.
Aronian, L (2781) – Carlsen, M (2847) [C77]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.c3 d6 7.Bg5 Ba7 8.0-0 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 h5 11.h4 Nh7 12.Kh1 g4 13.Nh2 Nf8 14.d4 Ng6 15.Bxc6+ bxc6 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Nd2 Be6 18.Nb3 Qxd1 19.Rfxd1 Bb6 20.Nf1 Ke7 21.Ne3 a5 22.Kg1 a4 23.Nc1 Bxe3 24.fxe3 Rhb8 25.Nd3 f6 26.Rd2 Nh8 27.Nb4 Rb6 28.Rf1 c5 29.Nd3 Rd8 30.Rfd1 Rbd6 31.Be1 g3 32.Nxc5 Bg4 33.Rxd6 cxd6 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Firouzja, A (2759) [B52]
chess24.com (1.11) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.f3 Qc7 10.b3 Qa5 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.Nde2 0-0 13.0-0 Nd7 14.Kh1 Nc5 15.Nd5 Qd8 16.Bc3 Bxc3 17.Ndxc3 a6 18.a4 Rc8 19.Rb1 Nb4 20.Qd2 e5 21.f4 f6 22.f5 Rc7 23.Rf3 Rg7 24.a5 b6 25.axb6 Qxb6 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.Nd5 Nxd5 28.Qxd5+ Kh8 29.b4 a5 30.b5 Rh7 31.Nc3 Kg7 32.Rd1 Rd8 33.h3 Rh4 34.Kh2 Rd7 35.Qc6 Qxc6 36.bxc6 Rd8 37.c7 Rc8 38.Rxd6 Rxc7 39.Rfxf6 Nxe4 40.Rxg6+ Kf7 41.Nxe4 Rxe4 42.Rdf6+ Ke7 43.Ra6 Kf7 44.Raf6+ Ke7 45.Rh6 a4 46.Ra6 Rexc4 47.Rhe6+ Kd7 48.Rxe5 R7c6 49.Raa5 Rd6 50.Ra7+ Kc6 51.Rea5 Rdd4 52.R7a6+ Kb7 53.Rg6 Re4 54.Rb5+ Kc7 55.Rf5 Kb7 56.g4 Rc6 57.Rxc6 Kxc6 58.Kg3 Re3+ 59.Kh4 a3 60.Ra5 Kb6 61.Ra8 Kb5 62.g5 Re4+ 63.Kh5 Ra4 64.Rb8+ Kc6 65.Rb1 a2 66.Ra1 Kd6 67.Kh6 Ke7 68.Kg7 Ke6 69.g6 Kf5 70.h4 Ra7+ 71.Kh6 Ra6 72.Kh7 Ra4 73.h5 Kg5 74.g7 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2789)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C67]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 Be6 11.g4 Ne7 12.Nd4 Bd7 13.f4 h5 14.f5 hxg4 15.e6 fxe6 16.fxe6 Bc8 17.Bg5 gxh3 18.Kh2 Ng6 19.Ne4 Rh5 20.Rg1 a6 21.Rad1 Ne7 22.Rdf1 c5 23.Rxf8+ 1-0
Giri, A (2776)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2758) [B67]
chess24.com (1.11) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Be7 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.g4 h5 13.gxh5 Nxh5 14.Bxe7 Kxe7 15.Rg1 g6 16.Qd2 Nf6 17.f4 Rh5 18.Rg5 Rah8 19.e5 Ne8 20.Ne4 d5 21.Rxh5 Rxh5 22.Qb4+ Kd8 23.Ng5 Bc6 24.Qf8 Qe7 25.Nxf7+ Kd7 26.Qg8 Rf5 27.Ng5 Ng7 28.c4 Rxf4 29.cxd5 Bxd5 30.Bh3 Kc6 31.Qc8+ Kb6 32.Nxe6 Bxe6 33.Bxe6 Nxe6 34.Rd6+ Ka7 35.Rxe6 Rf1+ 36.Kc2 Rf2+ 37.Kb3 Rf3+ 38.Kc4 Qh4+ 39.Kc5 b6+ 40.Kc6 Qc4+ 41.Kd7 Rf7+ 42.Ke8 Qxc8+ 43.Kxf7 Qc4 44.b3 Qf4+ 45.Kxg6 Kb7 46.Re8 Kc7 47.e6 Kd6 48.Kg7 Qxh2 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2789) [B90]
chess24.com (1.11) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Bg7 12.Qd2 Nc6 13.Nb3 b5 14.h4 gxh4 15.Bxh4 Be6 16.0-0-0 Rc8 17.f4 Bxb3 18.cxb3 Qb6 19.Rh3 0-0 20.Kb1 e6 21.f5 exf5 22.exf5 Qd4 23.Qxd4 Bxd4 24.Be2 Ne3 25.Rg3+ Kh7 26.Rxd4 Nxf5 27.Bd3 Ncxd4 28.Bf6 Rg8 29.Bxd4 Rxg3 30.Bxf5+ Kg8 31.Bxc8 Rxg2 32.Bxa6 b4 33.Nd5 Rd2 34.Ne7+ Kf8 35.Nf5 h5 36.Bf6 Rf2 37.Bc8 Rf1+ 38.Kc2 Ra1 39.Be7+ Kg8 40.Bxd6 Rxa2 41.Bxb4 Ra8 42.Nd6 Ra1 43.Bc5 h4 44.b4 Rh1 45.Ne4 Re1 46.Nf2 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2758)-Giri, A (2776) [B51]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.c4 Ngf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.0-0 Be7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Bxd7 Bxd7 10.Be3 a6 11.a4 Qa5 12.Rc1 Rfc8 13.b3 d5 14.e5 Ne8 15.Nde2 Nc7 16.c5 Bxc5 17.Bxc5 Qxc5 18.Ne4 Qb6 19.Nd6 Rcb8 20.Nf4 Ne8 21.Nh5 Nxd6 22.exd6 f5 23.Rc3 Rf8 24.Qd2 Qxd6 25.Rfc1 Bc6 26.Rg3 Rf7 27.Rcc3 f4 28.Rg5 e5 29.Qe2 Re8 30.Rh3 h6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c5 2.Qa8#; 1…Kc5 2.Qa5#; 1…Kxe4 2.Se7#; 1…Bd4/f4 2.Q(x)d4#./PN
