The elimination phase of the ongoing Skilling Open–Chess Champions Tour at the chess24.com server ended Nov. 24, with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura finishing tied for first to second places to lead six others to advance to the knockout stages of the online event.
Besides Carlsen and Nakamura, those who qualified for the knockout phase are Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri. Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Giri actuallt tied for sixth to 10th places with Aliresa Firouzja and Le Quang Liem, but advanced on better tiebreaks. Liren Ding, who was tied for second to fourth places with So and Carlsen at the start of Round 11, could only score 1½ points in the last five rounds and finished in 11th place. Also failing to make the cut are Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, David Anton Guijarro, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The quarterfinal knockout phase will pit Carlsen vs Giri, Nepomniachtchi vs Aronian, So vs Radjabov and Nakamura vs Vachier-Lagrave.
The final standings: 1-2. Carlsen, Nakamura, 9; 3-5. So, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, 8½; 6-10. Radjabov, Vachier-Lagrave, Giri, Firouzja, Le, 8; 11. Ding, 7½; 12-13. Vidit, Anton Guijarro, 6½; 11-13. 14. Svidler, 6; 15. Karjakin, 5½; 16. Duda, 4½.
Radjabov, T (2765)-Karjakin, S (2752) [D63]
chess24.com (11.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 h6 8.Bh4 c5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxe7 Nxe7 11.Be2 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nf6 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Qb3 Rb8 15.Qa3 a6 16.Rfd1 Re8 17.Nb3 Qb6 18.Na5 Nc6 19.Nc4 Qa7 20.Nd6 Red8 21.b4 Qb6 22.Rb1 Ne5 23.b5 axb5 24.Ncxb5 Ne8 25.f4 Ra8 26.Qc3 Bxb5 27.Rxb5 Qc6 28.Rc5 Rxd6 29.Rxc6 Rxd1+ 30.Bxd1 Nxc6 31.Qb3 Ra7 32.Bf3 Na5 33.Qb5 Ra8 34.Qc5 g6 35.g4 Ng7 36.h3 Ne8 37.Kg2 Ng7 38.Kg3 Ne8 39.a4 Ng7 40.Qb4 Ra6 41.Be2 Ra8 42.Bb5 Kh7 43.Qe7 Kg8 44.Qc7 Kf8 45.e4 Kg8 46.Kf3 g5 47.f5 exf5 48.gxf5 Nh5 49.Qe7 Nb3 50.Kg4 Ng7 51.Bc4 1-0
Firouzja, A (2749)-Ding, L (2791) [C50]
chess24.com (11.7) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.h3 h6 9.Bb3 b5 10.d4 Bb6 11.Be3 a4 12.Bc2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nb4 14.Nc3 Nxc2 15.Qxc2 Ba5 16.Bd2 Rb8 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Bxc3 19.Qxc3 Nd5 20.Qc5 Be6 21.Rac1 Qd7 22.Red1 Rfc8 23.Nd4 c6 24.Kh2 Rb7 25.Be1 Qe8 26.a3 Bd7 27.Nf3 Nf4 28.Qe3 Nd5 29.Qe4 Nb6 30.Rc5 Be6 31.Nd4 Bd5 32.Qg4 Qxe5+ 33.f4 Qf6 34.Bc3 Qg6 35.Nf5 Qxg4 36.hxg4 Rd7 37.Nxg7 Be6 38.Rxd7 Bxd7 39.Nh5 Be6 40.Nf6+ Kf8 41.Rh5 Nd5 42.Nxd5 Bxd5 43.Rxh6 Re8 44.Bf6 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Giri, A (2764) [B50]
chess24.com (13.7) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 e6 5.0-0 Be7 6.c3 0-0 7.Re1 a6 8.Bb3 b5 9.Bf4 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.h3 Re8 12.d4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nb6 14.Qe2 Rc8 15.Bh2 h6 16.Rad1 d5 17.e5 Ne4 18.Bf4 Na4 19.Rb1 Nb6 20.Nf1 Nc4 21.Ng3 a5 22.Bc2 Ncd2 23.Rbc1 Nxf3+ 24.Qxf3 Rc4 25.Ne2 b4 26.Qg4 Bg5 27.f3 f5 28.exf6 Nxf6 29.Bxg5 hxg5 30.Qxg5 Qd6 31.Bd3 Rxc1 32.Rxc1 Ba6 33.Bxa6 Qxa6 34.Rc7 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Firouzja, A (2749) [B19]
chess24.com (14.4) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Bb4 13.c3 Be7 14.c4 Qb6 15.Bc3 Ngf6 16.Ne5 Rd8 17.Qe2 Bb4 18.0-0 Bxc3 19.bxc3 0-0 20.Rab1 Qc7 21.f4 c5 22.Qf3 Nb6 23.Rfd1 Nfd7 24.Ne4 cxd4 25.cxd4 f5 26.Nc5 Nxc5 27.dxc5 Qxc5+ 28.Kh2 Qc7 29.a4 Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Rd8 31.Qxb7 Qxb7 32.Rxd8+ Kh7 33.Ng6 Qc8 34.Rxc8 Nxc8 35.c5 Kg8 36.Kg3 Kf7 37.Kf3 Ke8 38.Ke3 Kd7 39.Kd4 a6 40.Ke5 Kc6 41.Kxe6 Kxc5 42.Kf7 Kb4 43.Kxg7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2862) [E36]
chess24.com (14.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 0-0 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg5 Bb7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.Ne5 h6 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.d5 exd5 15.Qf4 Kh7 16.e3 c5 17.Bd3+ Kg7 18.Qg3+ Kh8 19.Qf4 Kg7 20.Qg3+ Kh8 21.Qf4 Kg7 ½-½
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rxd7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…e6, Bxd7 2.Be4#; 1…Kxd7 2.Qe8#; 1…Be6 2.Qxe6#./PN
