The first round knockout matches of the 2020 Speed Chess Championship being played at the chess.com server has resumed, and three more grandmasters advanced to the next round after eliminating their foes.
The three are Vladimir Fedoseev, who narrowly ousted teen sensation Aliresa Firouzja, 15-14; Wesley So, who booted out 16-year-old Nodirbek Abdussatorov, 18-10; and Levon Aronian, who took out Ian Nepomniachtch by a close 14-11 victory. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen earlier advanced to the next round after booting out Nihal Sarin and Parham Maghsoodloo, respectively. As we reported a week or so back, each speed chess match will feature 90 minutes of 5 + 1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3 + 1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1 + 1 bullet chess.
The remaining Round 1 unplayed matches are Hikaru Nakamura vs Haik Martirosyan; Fabiano Caruana vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda; and Vladislav Artemiev vs Anish Giri.
So, Wesley (2770)-Abdusattorov, N (2627) [C58]
chess.com (1.15) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3 Nd5 9.Nf3 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 f5 12.Nxe5 Qf6 13.Nf3 g5 14.c4 Nf4 15.Bf1 g4 16.d4 gxf3 17.Qxf3 Ne6 18.c5 Nxd4 19.Qc3 Bc7 20.b4 Nb7 21.Bc4+ Kg7 22.Bb2 Rd8 23.Nd2 a5 24.Nb3 axb4 25.Qxd4 Rxd4 26.Bxd4 Qxd4 27.Nxd4 Kf6 28.Nxc6 Nxc5 29.Nxb4 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Abdusattorov, N (2627) [B15]
chess.com (1.25) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2 Re8 9.Qc2 h5 10.Be3 Nd7 11.0-0-0 Nf8 12.h3 Be6 13.Kb1 a5 14.Nf4 Bxf4 15.Bxf4 b5 16.g4 Qd5 17.c4 bxc4 18.Be4 Qb5 19.a4 Qb6 20.gxh5 Rad8 21.Rhg1 Bd5 22.Bxd5 Rxd5 23.Bh6 Ne6 24.Bxg7 Nxg7 25.h6 Rg5 26.h4 Rxg1 27.Rxg1 Kh8 28.Rxg7 Re1+ 29.Ka2 f5 30.Qxc4 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2676)-Firouzja, A (2749) [E06]
chess.com (1.12) 2020
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.b3 b6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Bf4 Re8 12.Rc1 c6 13.Bh3 Ba3 14.Rc2 Nf8 15.Ne5 c5 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.Nd3 Qb6 18.Bc1 Bxc1 19.Qxc1 c4 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.Nf4 Ba6 22.Nd5 Qa5 23.Rd1 Rad8 24.Rcd2 Ne6 25.Bxe6 fxe6 26.Ne7+ 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2676)-Firouzja, A (2749) [E12]
chess.com (1.14) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Bf4 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.d5 Re8 8.e3 Nh5 9.Bg3 Bf6 10.Be5 Bxe5 11.Nxe5 Nf6 12.Nf3 d6 13.Be2 Nbd7 14.0-0 a6 15.b4 exd5 16.cxd5 b5 17.Qb3 Nb6 18.Rfd1 Ne4 19.Nxe4 Rxe4 20.Qc2 Qe7 21.Rac1 Nc4 22.Nd2 Bxd5 23.Bxc4 Rxc4 24.Nxc4 Bxc4 25.Rd4 g6 26.h4 d5 27.Qd2 a5 28.e4 axb4 29.axb4 Ra2 30.Qe3 Qxb4 31.exd5 Qd6 32.Re1 h5 33.Qc3 Ra8 34.Rde4 Rf8 35.Re8 Bxd5 36.Rxf8+ Qxf8 37.Qxc7 Be6 38.Rd1 Qb4 39.Rd8+ Kh7 40.Qe5 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [B50]
chess.com (1.16) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 g6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.d3 0-0 7.Be3 c4 8.d4 Nxe4 9.Bxc4 d5 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.Nbd2 Bf5 12.Bxe4 dxe4 13.Ng5 e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Ngxe4 Bxe4 16.Nxe4 Nc4 17.Bc5 Re8 18.Nd6 Nxd6 19.Bxd6 Qb6 20.Ba3 Rad8 21.Qc2 Bh6 22.Rad1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 Qe6 24.h3 Qxa2 25.Qa4 Ra8 26.Qe4 Qb3 27.Rd7 Rb8 28.Bd6 Qd1+ 29.Kh2 Bf8 30.Qf4 Qd5 31.Bxf8 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Aronian, L (2781) [C45]
chess.com (1.38) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.h4 f6 9.c4 Ba6 10.Rh3 fxe5 11.Bg5 Nf6 12.Re3 d6 13.Qf3 Qd7 14.Nc3 Be7 15.Bd3 0-0 16.Bf5 Qe8 17.Be6+ Kh8 18.Qh3 Bc8 19.0-0-0 Bxe6 20.Qxe6 h6 21.f4 exf4 22.Re2 Bd8 23.Qf5 Qd7 24.Qd3 Nh7 25.Ne4 Qf5 26.Rf1 hxg5 27.hxg5 Bxg5 28.Rh1 Bh6 29.Qc3 f3+ 30.Rxh6 fxe2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ka1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxc7 2.Qxc7#; 1…Qf6+/c3+ 2.R(x)c3#; 1…Qc1+/h1+ 2.R(x)c1#./PN
