The $1.5-million Champions Chess Tour got underway on Nov. 22, with sixteen of the world’s top chess players playing in the first tournament of the tour, dubbed the Skilling Open. This first event, along with the rest of the tournaments comprising the Tour, will be played online at the chess24.com server. The Champions Chess Tour is patterned after the recently successful Magnus Carlsen Tour.
The all-GM participants are Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Liren Ding, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Teimour Radjabov, Le Quang Liem, Peter Svidler, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin, Alireza Firouzja, David Anton Guijarro, and Santosh Gujrathi Vidit. The tournament format is a single round robin rapid with each player having 15 minutes base time with a 10-second increment after each move. They play five games a day.
After five rounds of play, Giri is leading the fray, with Carlsen and Guijarro in hot pursuit. The standings after Round 5: 1. Giri, 4; 2-3. Carlsen, Anton Guijarro, 3½; 4-7. So, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Nakamura,3; 8-9. Firouzja, Ding, 2½; 10-13. Duda, Le, Svidler, Vachier-Lagrave, 2; 14-15. Radjabov, Vidit, 1½; 16. Karjakin, 1.
Giri, A (2731)-Karjakin, S (2709) [D37]
chess24.com (2.8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3 b6 7.Qc2 c5 8.Rd1 Bb7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.dxc5 Qc8 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.e4 Bb7 13.Bd3 Qxc5 14.Qxc5 Bxc5 15.0-0 Nd7 16.e5 Bd5 17.Bb5 Rad8 18.Bg5 f6 19.exf6 gxf6 20.Bh6 Rf7 21.Nd4 Kh8 22.Ne2 Ne5 23.Nf4 Nf3+ 24.Kh1 Nd4 25.Nxd5 exd5 26.Bd3 a5 27.Rfe1 a4 28.h3 Ra7 29.Bb1 Kg8 30.Re3 Nb3 31.Rg3+ Kh8 32.Rf3 Rf7 33.Ba2 f5 34.Kg1 d4 35.Bxb3 axb3 36.Rxb3 Ra8 37.Rbd3 Rf6 38.Bc1 b5 39.b4 Bb6 40.Bb2 Kg7 41.Bxd4 Bxd4 42.Rxd4 Rxa3 43.Rd5 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2778)-Carlsen, M (2881) [C60]
chess24.com (1.8) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.Nc3 Ng6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bc5 7.Be3 Bxd4 8.Bxd4 Qg5 9.g3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Ne5 11.Be2 Nc6 12.Qc4 d6 13.Nd5 Qd8 14.Qc3 0-0 15.0-0-0 Re8 16.f3 Be6 17.Bb5 Bd7 18.h4 a6 19.Ba4 b5 20.Bb3 a5 21.a3 b4 22.axb4 axb4 23.Nxb4 Nxb4 24.Qxb4 Be6 25.Bxe6 Rxe6 26.Qc3 h5 27.b3 Rg6 28.f4 Ra6 29.Kb2 Re6 30.Qc4 Qf6+ 31.c3 Ra8 32.Rhe1 Qe7 33.Rd5 c6 34.Rd4 d5 35.Qe2 Qa3+ 36.Kc2 Qa2+ 37.Kd3 Qxb3 38.Qc2 Qb4 The unfortunate mouse slip 1-0
Carlsen, M (2881)-Radjabov, T (2758) [D38]
chess24.com (3.8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qb3 c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.Bg5 Qa5 8.Bxf6 dxc4 9.Qxc4 gxf6 10.Rc1 Qxc5 11.Qf4 Ke7 12.g3 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Bd7 14.Bg2 Rac8 15.0-0 b6 16.Rfd1 Ne5 17.Nd4 Nc4 18.h4 Qc7 19.Qh6 Rcg8 20.Rb1 Rg6 21.Qh5 Rhg8 22.Nb5 Qe5 23.Qxe5 fxe5 24.Nxa7 Ne3 25.Rd2 Nc4 26.Rd3 Rg4 27.Rb4 Na5 28.Rxb6 1-0
So, Wesley (2741)-Aronian, L (2778) [E05]
chess24.com (3.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Nc3 Bxf4 12.gxf4 a5 13.e3 Nbd7 14.Qb3 Ra6 15.Rfd1 Qe7 16.Qc2 g6 17.Rac1 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 c6 19.b3 Rb6 20.Nb1 Nd5 21.Nd2 Nb4 22.Qb1 Qh4 23.Be2 Nf6 24.Nf3 Qh3 25.Ng5 Qh4 26.Nf3 Qh3 27.Ne5 Rd8 28.Rc5 Nbd5 29.Bf1 Qh4 30.h3 Nd7 31.Nxd7 Rxd7 32.Qc2 Qd8 33.Rxa5 Ra6 34.Rxa6 bxa6 35.Bxa6 Nb4 36.Qe2 c5 37.Bb5 Rd6 38.Qe1 Nd5 39.Be2 Qb6 40.dxc5 Qxc5 41.Bc4 Rc6 42.a5 Nf6 43.a6 Rc8 44.Qd2 Qh5 45.a7 Ra8 46.Qd8+ 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2860)-Radjabov, T (2758) [B30]
Skilling Open CCT 2021 Online (4.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.Re1 a6 6.Bf1 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.Nf5 Qa5 11.Nd2 Nf6 12.Bd3 Ne5 13.Nb3 Qd5 14.Ne3 Qd6 15.Bf1 Qc7 16.Bd2 Bd6 17.Bc3 0-0 18.Qd4 Nc6 19.Qh4 Be5 20.Bxe5 Nxe5 21.Rad1 Rac8 22.c3 Ng6 23.Qg3 Qxg3 24.hxg3 Rc7 25.Rd4 e5 26.Rc4 Rfc8 27.Rxc7 Rxc7 28.Nc4 Ng4 29.Rd1 Kf8 30.Be2 Nf6 31.Nb6 Ke7 32.Na5 Be6 33.Bc4 Nf8 34.a4 N8d7 35.Bxe6 Kxe6 36.Nbc4 Nd5 37.Nd2 Nc5 38.Ra1 Nb6 39.b3 Nd5 40.b4 Nd3 41.b5 axb5 42.axb5 b6 43.c4 bxa5 44.cxd5+ Kxd5 45.Rxa5 Rc1+ 46.Nf1 Rb1 47.Ra7 Ke6 48.Ra6+ Kf5 49.g4+ Kg5 50.Ra7 Kg6 51.Rb7 Nc5 52.Rb6+ f6 53.f3 e4 54.Kf2 Nd3+ 55.Ke2 Re1+ 56.Kd2 Rxf1 57.fxe4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc5/xb4/f4+/b2/f2/c1/xe1 2.B(x)f4#; 1…Qxe3 2.Rxe3#; 1…Qxe1, Sf3 2.Re4#; 1…Qd1/f3 2.Sxc4#; 1…Qxg4+, Sxg4 2.Sxg4#./PN
