THE knockout quarterfinals of the ongoing 2021 New In Chess Classic – the fifth event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour – ended Wednesday with Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Hikaru Nakamura advancing to the semifinal round.
The two-day quarterfinals finished with Carlsen eliminating Teimour Radjabov (2-2 and 2½-1½), Aronian ousting Wesley So (3-1 and 2-2), Mamedyarov booting out Aliresa Firouzja (3-1 and 2½-½), and Nakamura kicking out Le Quang Liem (2½-1½ and 2½-1½).
As we earlier reported, the tournament started with 16 players: Carlsen, Aronian, Mamedyarov, Nakamura, Wesley, Radjabov, Le, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Sergey Karjakin, Alireza Firouzja, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Gawain C B Jones, Aryan Tari, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. Carlsen topped the single round robin preliminary round.
The semifinal pairings will be Carlsen vs. Aronian, and Mamedyarov vs. Nakamura.
Carlsen, M (2847)-Radjabov, T (2765) [E36]
chess24.com (1.22) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5 7.dxc5 d4 8.Qc2 e5 9.e3 Nc6 10.b4 0-0 11.Nf3 Re8 12.e4 a5 13.b5 Ne7 14.a4 Qc7 15.Ba3 Nd7 16.c6 bxc6 17.c5 Nf6 18.b6 Qb7 19.Bc4 Ng6 20.0-0 Qd7 21.Ne1 Ba6 22.Bxa6 Rxa6 23.f3 Nf4 24.Rd1 Raa8 25.Bc1 N6h5 26.g3 Ng6 27.Nd3 Nf6 28.Bg5 h5 29.Bxf6 gxf6 30.f4 exf4 31.Nxf4 Qg4 32.Rxd4 h4 33.Qd1 Qg5 34.Qh5 Qe5 35.Rd7 hxg3 36.hxg3 Qxe4 37.Nxg6 Qe3+ 38.Kh2 Qe2+ 39.Qxe2 Rxe2+ 40.Kh3 fxg6 41.Rxf6 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-So, Wesley (2770) [D02]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Qb6 6.dxc5 Qxb2 7.Rb1 Qc3 8.Bb5 g6 9.e4 Bg7 10.Be5 Qa5 11.exd5 a6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.d6 0-0 14.dxe7 Re8 15.0-0 Qxc5 16.Re1 Bf5 17.Bd4 Qd5 18.Rb3 c5 19.Re5 Qd7 20.Bxc5 Ne4 21.Rd3 Qb7 22.Nxe4 Bxe5 23.Nxe5 Qxe4 24.Rd8 Kg7 25.f3 Qxc2 26.Qd4 f6 27.Rxa8 Rxa8 28.Nc4 Qb1+ 29.Kf2 Qxa2+ 30.Kg3 Qe2 31.Qd8 Qe1+ 32.Bf2 Qc1 33.e8N+ Kh6 34.Qxf6 Rxe8 35.Nd6 Qc7 36.Bb6 Qb8 37.Bd4 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-So, Wesley (2770) [D45]
chess24.com (1.14) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.h3 b4 13.Na4 c5 14.dxc5 Rac8 15.a3 Nxc5 16.Nxc5 a5 17.axb4 axb4 18.Rxd6 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Qxd6 20.Ne4 Rxc2 21.Nxd6 Rd8 22.b3 Kf8 23.Nc4 Rd3 24.Bb2 Rxb3 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Bd1 Rbc3 27.Bxc2 Rxc2 28.Na5 1-0
Firouzja, A (2759)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [A15]
chess24.com (1.23) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 d5 4.Bb2 c5 5.g3 dxc4 6.bxc4 b6 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.Qc2 Be7 9.a3 Qc7 10.Nc3 Nc6 11.Nb5 Qd7 12.e3 0-0 13.d3 Rfd8 14.Rd1 a6 15.Nc3 b5 16.0-0 b4 17.Na4 Rab8 18.h3 Ba8 19.Rd2 bxa3 20.Bxa3 Nb4 21.Bxb4 cxb4 22.Qb3 Qc7 23.d4 Ne4 24.Ra2 Bc6 25.Rfa1 Bf6 26.Nb2 Nxg3 27.Nd3 Nf5 28.Rxa6 Bxf3 29.Bxf3 Bxd4 30.exd4 Nxd4 31.Qd1 Qxc4 32.Ne5 Qc3 33.Bh5 g6 34.Ra7 Nc6 35.Nd7 Nxa7 36.Rxa7 Ra8 0-1
Le, Quang Liem (2709)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (1.21) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 c6 9.h4 g6 10.h5 g5 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.Bb1 Bg7 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Qd3 Re8 15.Nb5 Re7 16.Nxg5 hxg5 17.h6 Bf6 18.Qh7+ Kf8 19.Rh5 Qa5+ 20.Rc3 Qxb5 21.Rxg5 Re8 22.Bg6 Ke7 23.Qxf7+ Kd6 24.e4 Bxd4 25.e5+ Bxe5 26.Rxe5 Qxb2 27.Ree3 Re7 28.h7 Qa1+ 29.Ke2 Qb2+ 30.Kf1 Qa1+ 31.Re1 Qxc3 32.Qf4+ e5 33.Qh6 Rxh7 34.Bxh7+ Ke7 35.Qg7+ Kd8 36.Qg5+ Ke8 37.Rc1 Qb4 38.Bg6+ Kf8 39.Qd8+ Kg7 40.Bf5 Qf8 41.Qg5+ Kf7 42.Rc3 e4 43.Qg6+ Ke7 44.Qe6+ Kd8 45.Qxd5 Qg7 46.Qc4 Nb6 47.Qc5 Bxf5 48.Qd6+ Nd7 49.Rg3 Qa1+ 50.Ke2 Qxa2+ 51.Ke3 Rc8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ke2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rg7/f7/e7/d7/c7/b7/a7/h6 2.Q(x)h6#; 1…Rh8 2.Rxh8#; 1…Rh5, Kh3 2.Qg3#; 1…Kh5, Rh3 2.Qg5#; 1…Nd5/f5/c4/c2/g2/d1/xf1 2.Qxg4#; 1…Rg1/xf1/h2+ 2.Q(x)h2#./PN
