THE Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Tournament, the fifth and penultimate event of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, got underway on Aug. 11 at the St. Louis Chess Center in America’s chess capital of St. Louis, Missouri, with 10 of the world’s best players competing. The combatants are Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wesley So, Richard Rapport, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Quang Liem Le, Jeffery Xiong, Hikaru Nakamura, Sam Shankland, and Peter Svidler.
The event is a single round-robin, Category 20 (average Elo: 2746) competition with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment and $150,000 in prize money.
After two rounds of play, four players are sharing the lead with identical 1½ points apiece. They are Caruana, Mamedyarov, Dominguez Perez, and Rapport. The quartet are followed closely by So and Nakamura, who each has one point on two draws, while Svidler, Shankland, Xiong, and Le each has a ½ point.
Incidentally, this event will be followed immediately by the Sinquefield Cup – the sixth and final leg of the Grand Chess Tour. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is currently leading the tour with 22 points, followed by Wesley with 21.3 points and Mamedyarov with 18 points.
Shankland, S (2709)-
Rapport, R (2763) [E06]
Saint Louis (1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Be7 4.Bg2 d5 5.Nf3 0-0 6.b3 a5 7.0-0 a4 8.Ba3 Nc6 9.e3 Ne4 10.Qc1 Bxa3 11.Nxa3 Nb4 12.Rd1 Qe7 13.Nb5 Bd7 14.a3 axb3 15.axb4 Qxb4 16.Rb1 Ra2 17.Ne1 Nxf2 18.Qc3 Qxc4 19.Qxc4 dxc4 20.Nc3 Nxd1 21.Nxa2 Nxe3 22.Nc3 b5 23.Bf3 b4 24.Ne4 Nc2 25.Nc5 Bb5 26.d5 Na3 27.Rb2 exd5 28.Bxd5 Re8 29.Be4 Re5 30.Rd2 g6 31.Rd5 Rxd5 32.Bxd5 b2 0-1
So, Wesley (2772)-
Le, Quang Liem (2709) [D31]
Saint Louis (1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 c6 10.h3 0-0 11.Qd2 Re8 12.Rae1 h6 13.Bf4 Qc7 14.a3 Rad8 15.Qc1 Nb6 16.Re2 Qc8 17.Ne5 Bf5 18.Bxf5 Qxf5 19.Qd1 Nc4 20.Nxc4 dxc4 21.Bxd6 Rxd6 22.Qa4 b5 23.Qb4 Rde6 24.a4 Ne4 25.Nxe4 Qxe4 26.Qc3 Qd5 27.axb5 axb5 28.Rfe1 c5 29.dxc5 Rg6 30.e4 Qxc5 31.Rd1 b4 32.Qd4 Rc6 33.Qxc5 Rxc5 34.Rd4 f5 35.e5 c3 36.bxc3 bxc3 37.Rc2 Rexe5 38.Rd3 Kf7 39.Rdxc3 Rxc3 40.Rxc3 Kf6 41.h4 g5 42.hxg5+ hxg5 43.Rc6 Re6 44.Rc5 Re5 45.Rc6 Re6 46.Rc5 Re5 47.Rc6 ½-½
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-
Xiong, J (2710) [C50]
Saint Louis (1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Re1 Ne7 8.d4 Bb6 9.a4 c6 10.dxe5 Ng4 11.Rf1 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Qxd8 Rxd8 14.a5 Bc7 15.Be3 Bd7 16.Rd1 Bg4 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.Nd2 Nc8 19.f3 Bd7 20.b4 Kf8 21.Kf1 Ke7 22.Ke2 f6 23.Kd1 Be6 24.Bxe6 Kxe6 25.Kc2 g6 26.Nb3 b6 27.axb6 axb6 28.Ra6 f5 29.Nd2 Kd7 30.Nc4 b5 31.Nd2 Nd6 32.Nb3 Nb7 33.Ra7 Kc8 34.Na5 Nxa5 35.bxa5 fxe4 36.fxe4 Rf8 37.Ra8+ Bb8 38.a6 1-0
Svidler, P (2714)-
Mamedyarov, S (2782) [C42]
Saint Louis (2) 2021
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.Qc2 Na6 10.a3 Bg4 11.Ne5 Bf5 12.b4 c5 13.cxd5 cxd4 14.Bxe4 Rc8 15.Nc6 Bxe4 16.Qxe4 bxc6 17.dxc6 Qb6 18.Bb2 Rfd8 19.Nd2 Nb8 20.Nf3 Nxc6 21.Rad1 Re8 22.Qg4 Bf8 23.Nxd4 Ne5 24.Qh3 a5 25.Nf5 Ng6 26.Bd4 Qe6 27.Qf3 axb4 28.axb4 Rb8 29.Bc5 Ne5 30.Qe4 Nc6 31.Qf4 Bxc5 32.bxc5 Qe5 33.Qf3 Qf6 34.Rd6 Ne5 35.Qe4 Ng6 36.Nh6+ Kh8 37.Qxe8+ Rxe8 38.Rxf6 gxf6 39.Nxf7+ Kg8 40.Nh6+ Kf8 41.g3 Ne5 42.Rc1 Rc8 43.Nf5 Nd3 44.Ra1 Rxc5 45.Ra8+ Kf7 46.Ra7+ Kg6 47.Ne7+ Kg5 48.Ng8 Kg6 49.Ne7+ Kg5 50.Rd7 Rc3 51.Nd5 Rc1+ 52.Kg2 Rc2 53.h4+ Kh6 54.Kg1 0-1
Le, Quang Liem (2709)-
Caruana, F (2806) [D02]
Saint Louis (2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Nbd2 c5 6.c3 0-0 7.Bg3 b6 8.Bd3 Ba6 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Qe2 Nb8 11.Ne5 Qc7 12.0-0 Nc6 13.f4 Ne7 14.Bh4 Nd7 15.Rad1 cxd4 16.exd4 Nf5 17.Bf2 Be7 18.Nd3 Nf6 19.Rde1 Rae8 20.g4 Nd6 21.Bg3 Nfe4 22.Kg2 Nxd2 23.Qxd2 Ne4 24.Qd1 Bd6 25.g5 f5 26.gxf6 Rxf6 27.Nf2 Nxf2 28.Rxf2 Bxf4 29.Rxf4 Rxf4 30.Qe2 Qf7 31.Bxf4 Qxf4 32.Rf1 Qd6 33.Qh5 Qe7 34.Qe5 b5 35.Rf3 a6 36.a3 h6 37.h3 Rf8 38.Re3 Kh8 39.Qxe6 Qg5+ 40.Rg3 Qd2+ 41.Kh1 Rf1+ 42.Rg1 Rxg1+ 43.Kxg1 Qc1+ 44.Kg2 Qxb2+ 45.Kg1 Qc1+ 46.Kf2 Qd2+ 47.Kf1 Qxc3 48.Qxd5 Qc4+ 49.Qc4 bc4 50.Ke2 g5 51.d5 Kg7 52.Ke3 h5 53.Kd4 g4 54.d6 Kf7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc8 2.Qa5#; 1…Rxa4 2.Nxa4#; 1…Nxe4 2.Nxe4#./PN
