IT’S a rest day at the FIDE Candidates Tournament, so we’ll report meanwhile on the ongoing 2021 New In Chess Classic which is the fifth event of the Champions Chess Tour.
The all-GM event is a rapid competition (15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move) hosted by the chess24.com playing server and is joined by Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Quang Liem Le, Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Alireza Firouzja, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Gawain C B Jones, Aryan Tari, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
The 16 combatants play a single round robin preliminary phase where the top eight players advance to the knockout quarterfinals. After 10 rounds of the prelims, Carlsen is leading the pack. Wesley seems off-form and has lost three of his ten games – two shock losses in 20 and 22 moves to Duda and Jones, respectively. He has somewhat recovered and now occupies the 7th place with good chances of snagging one of the eight quarterfinal slots.
Standings after Round 10: 1. Carlsen, 7; 2-3. Nakamura, Firouzja, 6½; 4-6. Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Le, 6; 7-9. So, Aronian, Tari, 5½; 10. Vidit, 5; 11-12. Praggnanandhaa, Dominguez Perez, 4½; 13-14. Duda, Karjakin, 3½; 15. Jones, 3; 16. Christiansen. 1½.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [C80]
New In Chess Classic Prelims 2021 chess24.com (1.6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.Bxe6 Nxe6 12.cxd4 Ncxd4 13.a4 Bb4 14.axb5 Nxb5 15.Qa4 Bxd2 16.Bxd2 0-0 17.Rfd1 c5 18.Be3 Qb6 19.Rac1 a5 20.Qc4 Rac8 21.Ng5 Nxg5 22.Bxg5 Qb7 23.Be3 Rfe8 24.Qd5 Qb8 25.Rxc5 Rcd8 26.Qf3 h6 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.h3 Nd4 29.Bxd4 Rxd4 30.Rxa5 Rd8 31.b3 Qb4 32.Ra8 Qe1+ 33.Kh2 Qxe5+ 34.g3 Rxa8 35.Qxa8+ Kh7 36.Qf3 f5 37.b4 Qb5 38.Qc3 Qe2 39.Qc5 Qe4 40.b5 f4 41.g4 Qf3 42.b6 g6 43.Qc2 Kg8 44.Qxg6+ 1-0
Firouzja, A (2759)-So, Wesley (2770) [D02]
chess24.com (1.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 e6 6.c3 cxd4 7.exd4 Nh5 8.Be3 Bd6 9.Bb5 0-0 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Re1 a6 12.Bd3 g6 13.Rc1 b5 14.a4 bxa4 15.Qxa4 Bd7 16.Qc2 Rab8 17.Nb3 Qb6 18.Nc5 Bxc5 19.dxc5 Qxb2 20.Qxb2 Rxb2 21.Bxa6 e5 22.Bh6 Ra8 23.Ra1 Ng7 24.c4 d4 25.Bb5 Rxa1 26.Rxa1 f6 27.Nd2 Nf5 28.Ne4 Kf7 29.Bd2 d3 30.f4 exf4 31.Bc3 Rc2 32.Ba4 Nfd4 33.Bxc2 dxc2 34.Bb2 Nb3 35.Re1 Ne5 36.Nxf6 Nd3 37.Nxd7 Nxe1 38.Ne5+ Ke6 39.c6 Kd6 40.Kf2 Nxg2 41.Ba3+ Kc7 42.Kxg2 c1R 43.Bxc1 Nxc1 44.Kf3 g5 45.Kg4 h6 46.Kh5 f3 47.Nxf3 Kxc6 48.Kxh6 g4 49.Ne5+ Kc5 50.Kg5 Kd4 51.Nxg4 Ne2 52.h4 Ng3 53.Nf6 Kxc4 54.Kg4 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [C54]
chess24.com (3.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Ba7 11.Nbd2 Nh7 12.Nf1 h5 13.h4 g4 14.N3h2 Ne7 15.Qd2 Kg7 16.d4 Ng6 17.Rad1 Nxh4 18.dxe5 Ng6 19.exd6 h4 20.d7 Bxd7 21.Qxd7 Qxd7 22.Rxd7 hxg3 23.Nxg3 Ne5 24.Rxc7 Rfc8 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Be2 Nf6 27.Rd1 Kg6 28.Nhf1 Kg5 29.Ne3 Bxe3 30.fxe3 Rc7 31.Kf2 Rd7 32.Rd4 Nc6 33.Rxd7 Nxd7 34.Nf5 Nce5 35.Nd6 b6 36.Bc4 Kf6 37.b4 Ke7 38.Nf5+ Kd8 39.Bd5 axb4 40.cxb4 Nd3+ 41.Kg3 Nxb4 42.Bxf7 Ne5 43.Bb3 Kd7 44.Nh6 Kd6 45.Nxg4 Nbd3 46.Nxe5 Kxe5 47.Kh4 Nc5 48.Bd5 Kf6 49.g4 Nd7 50.Kh5 Ne5 51.g5+ Kg7 52.Bb3 b5 53.a3 Kh7 54.Bd1 Nc4 55.e5 Kg7 56.e6 Nxa3 57.e7 Kf7 58.g6+ Kxe7 59.g7 Kf7 60.Kh6 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [A36]
chess24.com (5.8) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e4 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d3 d6 9.a3 a6 10.Rb1 Rb8 11.b4 cxb4 12.axb4 b5 13.cxb5 axb5 14.h3 Be6 15.f4 exf4 16.gxf4 Ne7 17.Be3 d5 18.Bc5 Re8 19.Qe1 dxe4 20.dxe4 Bc4 21.Qf2 Nd7 22.Rfd1 Qc8 23.Bd6 Ra8 24.Nd4 Bxd4 25.Rxd4 Ra3 26.Rc1 Qa6 27.Kh2 Ra1 28.Rxa1 Qxa1 29.Qg3 Qb2 30.Rd1 Nc8 31.Bc7 Nf6 32.Qg5 Qxc3 33.Be5 Rxe5 34.Qxf6 Rd5 35.Qxc3 Rxd1 36.Qe5 Nd6 37.f5 Rd2 38.Kg3 Rd3+ 39.Kh4 h6 40.Kg4 Kh7 41.Bf3 Kg8 42.h4 gxf5+ 43.exf5 Nxf5 44.Qb8+ Kg7 45.Qe5+ Kg8 46.Be4 Ne3+ 47.Kf3 Rb3 48.Kf4 Nd1 49.Bc2 Rxb4 50.Qd6 Bb3+ 51.Qxb4 Bxc2 52.Qxb5 Nf2 53.Qe2 Nd3+ 54.Kg3 Bb1 55.Qd1 1-0
Karjakin, S (2757)-So, Wesley (2770) [A45]
chess24.com (6.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.a4 0-0 7.Be2 Qb6 8.Ra3 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 Qb4+ 10.Qd2 Qxe4 11.Nf3 Bf5 12.Nh4 Qxc2 13.Nxf5 Qxf5 14.0-0 Na6 15.Bg5 Bf6 16.Bh6 Rfe8 17.Rf3 Qe5 18.Bb5 Nb4 19.Bxe8 Rxe8 20.b3 Qxd5 21.Qe2 Rc8 22.Rxf6 exf6 23.Qe7 Nc6 24.Qxb7 Qe6 25.h3 d5 26.Bd2 Rb8 27.Qc7 Rc8 28.Qb7 Kg7 29.Re1 Ne5 30.Qxa7 Qd6 31.Rc1 d4 32.a5 Nd3 33.Rd1 Rb8 34.a6 Rxb3 35.Ra1 c4 36.Bh6+ Kxh6 37.Qxf7 Ne5 38.Qa7 c3 39.f4 c2 40.fxe5 Qxe5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd7/e6/f5/g4 2.Nc5#; 1…Bh3+ 2.Kxh3#; 1…Ka8 2.Kf2/g1/f1#./PN
