GM Hikaru Nakamura joimed Round 2 qualifiers GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So and Levon Aronian in the ongoing 2020 Speed Chess Championship being played at the chess.com server after giving GM Haik M. Martirosyan s merciless beating, 21-5, in their Round 1 duel.
So badly outclassed was the 20-year old Armenian grandmaster that he managed to score only one win in 26 games while drawing eight. In most of the games, Nakamura rarely varied from playing the same Queen’s Gambit Declined variation, and winning most of them.
Thus, the only remaining Round 1 matches are Fabiano Caruana vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda; and Vladislav Artemiev vs Anish Giri, after which the Round of 8 matches will start.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Martirosyan, HM (2622) [C65]
chess.com (1.33) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Be6 7.Nb3 Bd6 8.Na5 Rb8 9.0-0 0-0 10.Be3 c5 11.h3 Qd7 12.Nd2 b6 13.Nac4 Qe7 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Bxf4 16.Rxf4 Nd7 17.Qh5 f6 18.Raf1 b5 19.Ne3 Ne5 20.Rh4 g5 21.Rg4 Bf7 22.Qh6 Bg6 23.Rg3 Nf7 24.Nd5 Qd6 25.Rxf6 Nxh6 26.Rxd6 cxd6 27.Rxg5 Nf7 28.Rg3 b4 29.Nc4 Kh8 30.Nf4 Ne5 31.Nxg6+ hxg6 32.Nxd6 Rfd8 33.Rg5 Rxd6 34.Rxe5 c4 35.dxc4 Rd2 36.b3 Rxc2 37.Rg5 Kh7 38.h4 Rd8 39.e5 Rxa2 40.e6 Re2 41.Ra5 Rdd2 42.Rg5 Rxe6 43.c5 a5 44.Rg4 a4 45.bxa4 b3 46.a5 b2 47.Rb4 Re1+ 48.Kh2 b1Q 49.Rxb1 Rxb1 50.a6 Ra1 51.c6 Rc2 52.c7 Rxc7 53.a7 Raxa7 54.h5 gxh5 55.Kh3 Rc4 56.g3 Ra3 57.Kh2 Rcc3 58.Kh3 Rxg3+ 59.Kh4 Rg1 0-1
Martirosyan, HM (2622)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A40]
chess.com (1.36) 2020
1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.g3 d6 4.Bg2 Bd7 5.0-0 Qc8 6.e3 Nc6 7.c4 Bh3 8.Bxh3 Qxh3 9.Ng5 Qd7 10.h4 h6 11.Nf3 Qh3 12.Qe2 Nf6 13.Rd1 g5 14.Qf1 Qg4 15.Nbd2 e5 16.d5 Ne7 17.b3 Ng6 18.Nh2 Qd7 19.h5 Nxh5 20.Ba3 Nf6 21.e4 h5 22.c5 h4 23.Qg2 hxg3 24.fxg3 Ng4 25.Nxg4 Qxg4 26.cxd6 cxd6 27.Nc4 Bf8 28.Bxd6 Rh3 29.Rd3 Nf4 30.Qf3 Rxg3+ 31.Qxg3 Ne2+ 32.Kf2 Nxg3 33.Rxg3 Qf4+ 34.Rf3 Qh2+ 35.Ke3 g4 36.Bxe5 Qh6+ 37.Rf4 b5 38.Nb2 f6 39.Bc7 Rc8 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Martirosyan, HM (2622) [A01]
chess.com (1.37) 2020
1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.d4 d5 6.Be2 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nbd2 c5 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.c4 e6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Rc1 Nbd7 13.Ne5 Rc8 14.Nxd7 Qxd7 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Bg4 Qe7 17.Bxc8 Rxc8 18.Nf3 Kg7 19.Re1 Qd6 20.e4 Re8 21.e5 Bxe5 22.Nxe5 Rxe5 23.Rxe5 Qxe5 24.Rxc5 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Martirosyan, HM (2622) [A01]
chess.com (1.39) 2020
1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.d4 h6 6.Bd3 Bxd3 7.Qxd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 c6 13.c4 a5 14.a3 Bd6 15.Rfe1 Re8 16.Rad1 Qe7 17.d5 cxd5 18.cxd5 e5 19.Nh4 Qf6 20.Nf5 Nc5 21.Qg4 h5 22.Qf3 Qg6 23.Nxd6 Qxd6 24.Qxh5 f6 25.Re3 e4 26.Rg3 Nd3 27.Qg6 Re7 28.Bxf6 Nf4 29.Bxe7 Qxg6 30.Rg6 Ng6 31.Bg5 Ne5 32.d6 Rc8 33.d7 1-0
Martirosyan, HM (2622)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A40]
chess.com (1.54) 2020
1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.e3 Nf6 6.Be2 0-0 7.d5 Nb8 8.0-0 e5 9.e4 Nh5 10.Ne1 Nf4 11.Nd3 Nxe2+ 12.Qxe2 f5 13.f3 f4 14.c5 g5 15.h3 h5 16.cxd6 cxd6 17.Nf2 Nd7 18.b3 Rf6 19.Ba3 Rg6 20.Rac1 a6 21.Rfd1 Nf6 22.Rd3 g4 23.hxg4 hxg4 24.fxg4 Nxg4 25.Nxg4 Bxg4 26.Qf2 Bf6 27.Na4 Bh4 28.Qb6 Qg5 29.Qxb7 Rf8 30.Rc2 Bg3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…g4, Kg2 2.Se1#; 1…Bg3, Rg3 2.Sef4#; 1…Kg4 2.Se5#./PN
