GM Alexei Shirov joined GM Ivan Salgado Lopez in the lead of the 85th Spanish Chess Championship after winning his Round 7 game Sunday in Linares, Spain. Lopez, on the other hand, had a grandmasters draw with top seed GM David Anton Guijarro.
Shirov used the Slav Defense against GM Salvador Del Rio De Angelis in 53 moves in a round where only two decisive games resulted among the top 12 pitted players.
Shirov and Salgado Lopez now have six points apiece with two rounds to go.
Half-a-point behind and sharing third to eighth slots with 5 ½ markers apiece are Anton Guijarro, GMs Daniel Alsina Leal and Jaime Santos Latasa, IMs Jesus Martin Duque and Iñigo Argandona Riveiro and FM Marcos Lianes Garcia.
Del Rio De Angelis tows six others with him with identical five points and sharing ninth to 15th places.
Anton Guijarro, D (2688)-Salgado Lopez, I (2584) [A06]
Linares (7.1) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.b3 b6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bb2 Bb7 9.d4 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Nbd2 Qe7 12.a3 a5 13.b4 axb4 14.axb4 Bxb4 15.Rxa8 Bxa8 16.Qa1 Nd7 17.Bxg7 Rc8 18.Bh6 Nc3 19.Nd4 Bxg2 20.Kxg2 Qf6 21.Qa6 Rd8 22.Be3 Nd5 23.Nc6 Nb8 24.Nxb8 Rxb8 25.Nf3 Nxe3+ 26.fe3 Bc5 27.Qc4 Rf8 28.Qe4 Qg6 29.Qf4 Qf5 30.Qf5 ef5 31.Nd4 Re8 32.Nf5 ½-½
Del Rio De Angelis, S (2510)-Shirov, A (2647) [D45]
Linares (7.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.a3 Rfe8 13.b4 a5 14.Bd2 axb4 15.axb4 Nd5 16.Rac1 Qb8 17.e4 Nxb4 18.Qb1 Na6 19.e5 Be7 20.Ng5 Nf8 21.Bh5 g6 22.Bf3 Nc7 23.Nce4 Nd5 24.Nc5 Bxc5 25.Rxc5 Ra4 26.Be3 Nd7 27.Rcc1 Rb4 28.Qa1 c5 29.dxc5 Nxe5 30.Bxd5 Bxd5 31.Rd4 Rxd4 32.Qxd4 f5 33.Bf4 Nc6 34.Qd2 Qd8 35.Bd6 h6 36.Nh3 g5 37.Qb2 b4 38.f4 Kf7 39.Nf2 gxf4 40.Nd3 f3 41.g3 Qg5 42.Bf4 Qg7 43.Be5 Qg4 44.Nf2 Qg5 45.Ra1 Qe3 46.Bf4 Qe2 47.Bd2 e5 48.Re1 Qc4 49.Bxh6 Nd4 50.Qd2 f4 51.Bxf4 Ne2+ 52.Rxe2 fxe2 53.Bh6 Ra8 0-1
Martin Duque, J (2402)-Santos Latasa, J (2588) [B30]
Linares (7.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be3 Be7 8.c4 0-0 9.Ba4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Qc7 11.Nc3 b6 12.Rc1 Bb7 13.Re1 Rad8 14.Bb3 Qb8 15.Bc2 Ne5 16.Qe2 Bd6 17.Be3 Bb4 18.Bd2 Bc5 19.Nb5 Nc6 20.e5 a6 21.Nd6 f5 22.Nxb7 Qxb7 23.Ba4 Qc7 24.a3 a5 25.Rcd1 Nd4 26.Qd3 Nc6 27.Bc3 h6 28.Qb1 Be7 29.Rd3 Nb8 30.Bb5 Nc6 31.Qd1 Rf7 32.Re2 Bg5 33.Ba4 Nb8 34.Bb5 Nc6 35.Ba4 Nb8 36.Rd4 Nc6 37.Rd6 Be7 38.Rd3 Bg5 39.g3 Be7 40.Bb5 Bf8 41.Ba4 Nb8 42.Bb5 Nc6 43.Ba4 Nb8 44.Bb5 Nc6 ½-½
Alsina Leal, D (2484)-Garrido Outon, A (2359) [A05]
Linares (7.5) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Re1 Nbd7 7.e4 e5 8.c4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.Nc3 Nc5 11.b3 c6 12.Bb2 Qb6 13.Rb1 Bd7 14.Ba1 a5 15.h3 h5 16.a3 Nh7 17.Nf3 Qc7 18.Qc2 Re7 19.b4 axb4 20.axb4 Ne6 21.Ne2 Neg5 22.Nxg5 Nxg5 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Nf4 Rae8 25.Rbd1 Kg8 26.Qd3 Bf5 27.Qxd6 Qxd6 28.Rxd6 Bxe4 29.Re3 Kg7 30.h4 Bxg2 31.Rxe7 Rxe7 32.Kxg2 Ne4 33.Rd8 Nc3 34.Rb8 Na2 35.Nd3 Rd7 36.Nc5 Rc7 37.Nxb7 Nxb4 38.Nd6 Na6 39.Ra8 1-0
Habans Aguerrea, J (2183) – Lianes Garcia, M (2351) [E10]
Linares (7.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Qc2 Bxd2 9.Nbxd2 b5 10.a4 c6 11.b3 cxb3 12.Qxb3 Ba6 13.axb5 Bxb5 14.Nc4 Nbd7 15.Rfc1 a4 16.Qa3 Nb6 17.Nxb6 Qxb6 18.e3 Nd7 19.Rc3 Rfc8 20.Rac1 Qd8 21.Nd2 Qf8 22.Ne4 Qxa3 23.Rxa3 Ra6 24.Nc5 Nxc5 25.Rxc5 Kf8 26.f4 Ke7 27.Kf2 Kd6 28.Ke1 Re8 29.e4 Kc7 30.Kd2 Kb6 31.Kc3 Rd8 32.Rh5 h6 33.d5 cxd5 34.exd5 exd5 35.Rxd5 Rxd5 36.Bxd5 Ra7 37.Ra1 Kc5 38.Bf3 Re7 39.Bg4 Re3+ 40.Kd2 Kd4 41.Rb1 Rb3 42.Ra1 Rb2+ 43.Kc1 Rxh2 44.Ra3 Kc4 45.Re3 Kb4 46.Bd1 Bc4 47.Re7 a3 48.Rb7+ Kc3 49.Ra7 a2 50.Ra3+ Kb4 51.Ra4+ Kc5 52.Ra5+ Kd4 53.Ra3 Rg2 54.g4 g6 55.Ra5 Be6 56.Ra3 Bxg4 57.Bxg4 Rxg4 58.Rxa2 Rg1+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be6! Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe6, Kd6 2.Qc5#; 1…d5 2.Qc7#; 1…Sg8/f7+/f5/g4 2.S(x)f7#; 1…f3 2.Bh2#; 1…Sc4/e4/b3/f3/b1/f1 2.S(x)c4#./PN
