The preliminary phase of the Airthings Masters being played at the chess24.com server ended with eight players advancing to the quarterfinals after a hectic final day.
Three players eventually ended sharing first to third places with 6½ points apiece, although Carlsen nosed out Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura on tiebreaks to top the leaderboard. The tiebreaks were important to determine quarterfinal opponents. The five other GMs making it to the quarters were Ian Nepomniachtchi, Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Daniil Dubov.
Although Pentala Harikrishna and Alexander Grischuk tied for seventh to 10thplaces, Vachier-Lagrave, and Dubov got the two remaining quarterfinal slots by virtue of a better tiebreak quotient. Anish Giri and David Anton Guijarro tied for last place.
The final standings: 1-3. Carlsen, So, Nakamura, 6½; 4-5. Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, 6; 6. Aronian, 5½; 7-10. Vachier-Lagrave, Dubov, Harikrishna, Grischuk, 5; 11-12. Giri, Anton Guijarro, 4½.
So now the quarterfinal pairings will be Carlsen vs Dubov, Radjabov vs Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura vs Aronian, Wesley So vs Vachier-Lagrave.
The players will play two matches of four rapid games each over two days.
Giri, A (2764)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B89]
chess24.com (9.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Na5 10.Bd3 e5 11.Nb3 b5 12.Kb1 Be7 13.h3 Be6 14.g4 b4 15.Na4 Nc4 16.g5 Nd7 17.Nd2 Nxe3 18.Qxe3 0-0 19.h4 Rfc8 20.b3 Qa5 21.h5 Rc6 22.g6 Nf6 23.Rdg1 Rac8 24.gxf7+ Kxf7 25.Nf3 h6 26.Rg6 Bf8 27.Qe2 Ke8 28.Nd2 Qc7 29.Bc4 Bxc4 30.Nxc4 Rxc4 31.bxc4 Qc6 32.Rxf6 gxf6 33.Nb2 f5 34.f3 fxe4 35.fxe4 Rc7 36.Rf1 Rg7 37.c5 Qxc5 38.Qxa6 Rc7 39.Qa8+ Rc8 40.Qa4+ Qc6 41.Qb3 Be7 42.Re1 Bg5 43.Nd3 Qc4 44.Qa4+ Kf8 45.Re2 Kg7 46.Qd7+ Kg8 47.Qxd6 Rf8 48.Qd5+ Qxd5 49.exd5 Bf6 50.Re4 Bg7 51.Nxb4 Kf7 52.c4 Kf6 53.c5 Kf5 54.Re1 Rb8 55.a3 e4 56.Kc2 Rb5 57.c6 Rc5+ 58.Kb3 Rc3+ 59.Ka4 Be5 60.Re2 e3 61.Nc2 Ke4 62.Rxe3+ Rxe3 63.Nxe3 Kxe3 64.Kb5 Kd4 65.Kb6 1-0
Carlsen, M (2862)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C67]
chess24.com (10.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Ne8 10.Re1 d5 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Qf3 Bxf4 13.Qxf4 Qd6 14.Qf3 Nf6 15.Nd2 Bg4 16.Qg3 Qxg3 17.hxg3 Rfe8 18.f3 Bd7 19.g4 h6 20.Kf2 Rxe1 21.Rxe1 Re8 22.Rc1 c6 23.a4 Re7 24.a5 Ne8 25.Nb3 Nd6 26.Nc5 Bc8 27.b3 g6 28.c4 dxc4 29.bxc4 Kg7 30.Bd3 f5 31.gxf5 Bxf5 32.Be2 h5 33.Nd3 Bc8 34.Nb4 Nf5 35.d5 c5 36.Nd3 Rc7 37.Nf4 h4 38.Bd3 g5 39.Ne2 Nd6 40.Nc3 Kf6 41.Re1 Bd7 42.Ne4+ Nxe4+ 43.Bxe4 b5 44.d6 Rc8 45.cxb5 Bxb5 46.Rb1 Bc4 47.Rb7 Rd8 48.Rxa7 Rxd6 49.Rc7 Rd2+ 50.Kg1 Bd5 51.Rd7 Ke6 52.Rd8 c4 53.a6 c3 54.Rxd5 1-0
Grischuk, A (2777)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B51]
chess24.com (11.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.0-0 g6 8.e5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bg7 10.Bf4 0-0 11.Rd1 Qb6 12.Qxb6 Nxb6 13.Nc3 Bf5 14.Bf3 Nh5 15.Be3 Bxe5 16.Bxb6 Nf6 17.Re1 Nd7 18.Ba5 Rab8 19.Rad1 Rfe8 20.Be4 Be6 21.Bd5 Bxc3 22.Bxc3 Bxd5 23.Rxd5 Nb6 24.Rd4 Rbc8 25.Rb4 Nd5 26.Rxb7 Nxc3 27.bxc3 Rxc3 28.Rexe7 Rxe7 29.Rxe7 Rxc2 30.g3 Rxa2 31.h4 h5 32.Ra7 a5 33.Kg2 a4 34.Kf3 Kg7 35.Ra6 a3 36.Kg2 Ra1 37.Kf3 Kf8 38.Ra7 Ke8 39.Kg2 f6 40.Ra6 Kf7 41.Kf3 Ra2 42.Ke3 g5 43.hxg5 fxg5 44.Ra5 Ra1 45.Kf3 g4+ 46.Kf4 a2 47.Kg5 Ke6 48.Ra8 Ke5 49.Re8+ Kd4 50.Re2 Kd3 51.Rb2 Ke4 52.Re2+ Kf3 53.Rb2 Kg2 54.Rc2 Rf1 55.Rb2 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Giri, A (2764) [A08]
chess24.com (11.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3 d5 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 h6 9.c3 b5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.a4 b4 12.c4 Nc7 13.Nb3 Bb7 14.Be3 Na6 15.d4 cxd4 16.Nfxd4 Qc8 17.Qe2 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Rd8 20.Qf3 Qxc4 21.Rac1 Qd5 22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Rc6 Nb8 24.Rc8+ Rd8 25.Rec1 Nd7 26.Rxa8 Rxa8 27.Rc7 Rd8 28.Rxa7 Bf6 29.a5 Bxd4 30.Nxd4 Ne5 31.a6 Rxd4 32.Ra8+ Kh7 33.a7 Nc6 34.Rh8+ Kxh8 35.a8Q+ Nd8 36.Qa7 Rd5 37.Qb6 Kg8 38.Qxb4 Nc6 39.Qb7 Nd4 40.Qb8+ Kh7 41.Qf8 Kg6 42.g4 h5 43.h3 hxg4 44.hxg4 e5 45.Qa8 Ne6 46.b4 Rd4 47.b5 Rxg4+ 48.Kf1 Rb4 49.Qc6 Kg5 50.b6 Nf4 51.Kg1 Rb1+ 52.Kh2 Ne6 53.Qe4 Rb5 54.b7 Nd8 55.b8R 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Dubov, D (2702) [C78]
chess24.com (11.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Re1 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nh5 15.Kh1 Qf6 16.Be3 exd4 17.cxd4 Ba5 18.Rg1 Rxb5 19.Ba4 Rxb2 20.Bxc6 Bb6 21.Rg4 g6 22.f4 Rb4 23.Ra4 Rxa4 24.Qxa4 Ng7 25.Bd5 Kh8 26.h3 Qe7 27.f5 gxf5 28.exf5 Nxf5 29.Bg5 f6 30.Re4 Qg7 31.Re8 Ba7 32.Qd7 h6 33.Qc8 Rxe8 34.Qxe8+ Kh7 35.Bxf6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxc5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…exd5 2.Qxd5#; 1…Kxe4 2.dxe6#; 1…Bxe4 2.Qc3#./PN
