The second edition of the Clutch Chess Showdown, dubbed the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown International and organized by the St. Louis Chess Club, got underway last weekend on the lichess.org playing server.
Unlike the rather experimental first edition where only four US players took part, the second installment now has top international players included.
The cast this time is made up of Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, first edition winner Wesley So, and Jeffery Xiong.
As usual, the tournament is a knockout competition where matched participants play a 12-game duel with a progressive scoring system to make the event more highly competitive.
Under the scoring format created by GM Maurice Ashley, normal points are given for Games 1 to 4 and 7 to 10, doubles are for games 5 and 6, and then trebles are for the final games 11 and 12.
The match-ups on Saturday were Carlsen versus Xiong and Vachier-Lagrave against So.
After six games, Carlsen leads Xiong, 4½-3½; while Wesley is showing the way against Vachier-Lagrave, 5½-2½.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Xiong, J (2709) [B14]
lichess.org (1.1) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.exd4 d5 6.Qb3 Bg7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.Be2 Na6 9.Bf3 b5 10.Nge2 Rb8 11.Bf4 Rb6 12.Nxb5 g5 13.Bxg5 Nc7 14.a4 a6 15.d6 exd6 16.0-0 axb5 17.a5 Rb8 18.Ng3 Ne6 19.Be3 Nc7 20.Bg5 Ne6 21.Be3 Nc7 22.Rfc1 Be6 23.Qd1 Nfd5 24.a6 Ra8 25.a7 Qe7 26.Nh5 Nxe3 27.fxe3 Bh6 28.Bxa8 Bxe3+ 29.Kh1 Bxc1 30.Qxc1 Rxa8 31.Qc3 Nd5 32.Qc6 Nc7 33.Qb7 Bg4 34.Qb8+ Qf8 35.Nf6+ Kg7 36.Qxf8+ Kxf8 37.Nxg4 Ke7 38.Ne3 Kd7 39.d5 Kc8 40.Nf5 Kd7 41.h4 Nxd5 42.Ra6 Nc7 43.Rxd6+ Ke8 44.Rh6 Rxa7 45.Rxh7 Ne6 46.h5 b4 47.h6 Ra5 48.g4 Ra1+ 49.Kh2 Ra2 50.Rh8+ Kd7 51.Kg3 Rxb2 52.h7 Rb3+ 53.Kh4 Rb1 54.g5 b3 55.Ng3 Nf4 56.Kg4 Ng6 57.Rg8 b2 58.Rxg6 Rh1 59.Rb6 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Xiong, J (2709) [B52]
lichess.org (1.3) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.Re1 Rc8 7.c3 e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 Ne4 11.Nbd2 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Be7 13.Qf4 0-0 14.Qg4 Re8 15.h4 Qc7 16.Bh6 g6 17.Qf4 Qc2 18.g4 b6 19.b3 Ba3 20.Kg2 Qb2 21.Ng5 Re7 22.Rad1 Rc2 23.Re3 Rc3 24.h5 Qc2 25.Rxc3 Qxc3 26.Nxh7 Kxh7 27.Bg5 Kg8 28.Bxe7 Bxe7 29.Rc1 Qb4 30.Rc8+ Nf8 31.h6 g5 32.h7+ Kg7 33.h8Q+ Kxh8 34.Qxf7 Qxd4 35.Rxf8+ Bxf8 36.Qxf8+ Kh7 37.Qf7+ Kh8 38.Qh5+ Kg7 39.Qxg5+ Kh7 40.Qe7+ Kh8 41.Qf6+ Kh7 42.Qxe6 Qd1 43.Qf5+ Kg8 44.e6 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Xiong, J (2709) [B41]
lichess.org (1.5) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.a3 b6 8.Be2 Bb7 9.f3 Be7 10.Be3 0-0 11.0-0 d6 12.Rc1 Nbd7 13.b4 Rfc8 14.Kh1 Qd8 15.Nb3 Ne5 16.Na4 Nfd7 17.Qd4 b5 18.Na5 Nc6 19.Nxc6 Bxc6 20.cxb5 Bxb5 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.Qd1 Qc7 23.Bd4 Qc2 24.Bxb5 axb5 25.Nb6 Nxb6 26.Bxb6 Qxd1 27.Rxd1 Rc3 28.Ra1 Bf6 29.Rd1 Rxa3 30.Kg1 Ra6 31.Bc7 Be5 32.Rc1 Kf8 33.Ba5 d5 34.exd5 exd5 35.Kf1 Bxh2 36.Rc5 Re6 37.g4 d4 38.Rxb5 d3 39.Rd5 Rd6 40.Rxd6 Bxd6 41.b5 g6 42.b6 Ke8 43.b7 Kd7 44.Bb4 Bb8 45.Kf2 h5 46.gxh5 gxh5 47.Be1 h4 48.Kg2 Kc6 49.Kh3 Kxb7 50.Kg4 Bg3 0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-So, Wesley (2770) [E34]
lichess.org (1.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.Bd2 0-0 9.h3 a5 10.g4 a4 11.Qxb4 Nxb4 12.gxf5 Nc2+ 13.Kd1 Nxa1 14.e3 a3 15.bxa3 exf5 16.Kc1 Be6 17.Kb2 Ne4 18.Nxe4 fxe4 19.d5 Bxd5 20.Nd4 c5 21.Nb5 Rfd8 22.Bc3 Bc6 23.Rg1 g6 24.Be2 Rd3 25.Bxd3 exd3 26.Rxa1 Bxb5 27.Bd2 Ra4 28.f4 Rc4 29.Rc1 Rxc1 30.Bxc1 f5 31.Kc3 Kf7 32.a4 Ba6 33.Ba3 c4 34.Bc5 Ke6 35.h4 Kd5 36.Bd4 Ke4 37.Kd2 Kf3 38.a5 Bb5 39.a3 Be8 40.Bf6 Bf7 41.Bd4 Kg3 42.Bf6 Kg4 43.Bg5 Bd5 44.Bf6 h6 45.Bg7 g5 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [D11]
lichess.org (1.5) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Nc3 a5 11.Qxb6 Nxb6 12.Ne5 Nbd5 13.f3 Nd7 14.Nxd7 Kxd7 15.e4 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Bg6 17.a4 b5 18.axb5 cxb5 19.f4 Rhc8 20.g4 f5 21.exf5 exf5 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.g5 Bf7 24.Ba3 Bxa3 25.Rxa3 Bd5 26.Re1 Be4 27.Rea1 a4 28.c4 Kc6 29.d5+ Kc5 30.cxb5 Kxb5 31.d6 Rd8 32.Rxa4 Rxd6 33.Ra7 Rd2 34.R1a2 Rd1+ 35.Kf2 Rd3 36.Rxg7 Rf3+ 37.Ke2 Rxf4 38.Ke3 Rh4 39.Rc7 Kb6 40.Rc3 Bc6 41.Rb2+ Kc7 42.Rbc2 Re4+ 43.Kf3 Rc4+ 44.Kg3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.e4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…exf5 2.exf5#; 1…Rd5 2.exd5#; 1…Sf6 2.f4#; 1…Sc5 2.d4#./PN
