It was a round of misses for both Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian after both botched chances of winning their respective Round 7 regulation games at the 8th Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, Norway on Oct. 12.
Caruana had a huge edge over world champion Magnus Carlsen, but let the edge slipped through his fingers, enabling Carlsen to get back in the game and hold the draw. Caruana then ironically lost the Armageddon tiebreak on time.
Aronian, on the other hand, struggled in regulation against tournament leader Aliresa Firouzja, but kept his composure to gain the draw. In the Armageddon game that ensued, Aronian missed a winning two-move tactic and eventually lost on time.
The only regulation winner was Jan-Krzysztof Duda who clobbered the winless Aryan Tari in just 27 moves of a Ruy Lopez to somehow gain on the leaders.
Round 7 standings: 1. Firouzja, 14½; 2, Carlsen, 13½; 3. Aronian, 12; 4. Caruana, 11; 5. Duda, 7; 6. Tari, 1½. The Round 8 pairings will be Carlsen vs Tari, Aronian vs Duda, and Caruana vs Firouzja.
Caruana, F (2828)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B31]
Stavanger (7.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 e5 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 exd4 8.Bf4 a6 9.Ba4 Nge7 10.Bd6 b5 11.Bb3 Bb7 12.Re1 Nc8 13.e5 Nxd6 14.exd6+ Kf8 15.h4 Bf6 16.Nbd2 Kg7 17.Bd5 Na5 18.Bxb7 Nxb7 19.Ne4 Re8 20.h5 Rc8 21.Rc1 Rxc1 22.Qxc1 h6 23.hxg6 fxg6 24.Qd2 d3 25.b4 Re6 26.Qxd3 Qb6 27.Rd1 Qc6 28.Nxf6 Rxf6 29.Ne5 Qc8 30.Qd5 Re6 31.Ng4 Kh7 32.Qd4 Qf8 33.Qa7 Rxd6 34.Re1 Nd8 35.Ne5 Qe7 36.Nf3 Re6 37.Rd1 Rd6 38.Re1 Re6 39.Rd1 Rd6 ½-½
Firouzja, A (2728)-Aronian, L (2767) [D78]
Stavanger (7.2) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.d4 0-0 6.c4 c6 7.Ne5 Ng4 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Bf4 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 Nc6 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Nc3 e6 13.Qd2 b6 14.Rad1 Bb7 15.e4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Re8 17.d5 exd5 18.Bxd5 Rc8 19.f4 Ba6 20.Rf2 Qe7 21.f5 f6 22.Be6 Rcd8 23.Nd5 Qf8 24.Qc3 Ne5 25.Rd4 Qc5 26.Qxc5 bxc5 27.Ra4 Rd6 28.Rxa6 Rxa6 29.Nc7 Raxe6 30.Nxe6+ Kh6 31.Nxc5 Ng4 32.Rf4 Re1+ 33.Kg2 Rc1 34.Rxg4 Rxc5 35.Rh4+ Kg5 36.Rxh7 Rc2+ 37.Kf3 Rxb2 38.h4+ Kxf5 39.Rxa7 Ke6 40.g4 Rc2 41.Ra6+ Ke5 42.Ra5+ Ke6 43.g5 Rc3+ 44.Ke2 Rh3 45.Ra6+ Ke7 46.Rxf6 Rxh4 47.Ra6 Rf4 48.Ra5 Kd6 49.Ke3 Rg4 50.a4 Rh4 51.Kd3 Rg4 52.Ke3 Rh4 53.Kf3 Ke6 54.Ke3 Kd6 55.Kd3 Rg4 56.Ra6+ Ke7 57.Ra5 Kd6 58.Ke2 Ke6 59.Kf3 Rb4 ½-½
Duda, J-K (2757)-Tari, A (2633) [C70]
Stavanger (7.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 f5 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.0-0 Na5 9.Nxd4 c5 10.Nxf5 c4 11.Nc3 Qb6 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.Qxd5 Qc6 14.Qd4 Qe6 15.Nd6+ Bxd6 16.exd6 Nf6 17.Qc3 0-0 18.Qxa5 Ng4 19.Qc3 Rae8 20.Bg5 cxb3 21.Qxb3 Qxb3 22.axb3 Re2 23.f3 Nf6 24.Rfc1 h6 25.Kf1 Rfe8 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Re1 1-0
Caruana, F (2828)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C67]
Stavanger (7.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re1 c6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.c4 Nc7 14.b3 Bf6 15.Ba3 Re8 16.Bd6 Re6 17.c5 Ne8 18.Bc4 Nxd6 19.cxd6 Bxa1 20.Qxa1 Rxd6 21.Qe5 Re6 22.Bxe6 dxe6 23.d4 b6 24.h4 Ba6 25.Qf4 Qd7 26.Ng4 Rd8 27.Ne5 Qc7 28.Qg4 c5 29.Rc1 Qd6 30.Qh5 Qc7 31.Qg4 h6 32.b4 Rd5 33.Rc3 Qe7 34.bxc5 bxc5 35.Rg3 f5 36.Qh5 cxd4 37.Nc6 Qf7 38.Qxh6 d3 39.Qd2 Qf6 40.Nb4 Rd6 41.Nxa6 Rxa6 42.Qxd3 Rxa2 43.Qc4 Rd2 44.h5 Rd1+ 45.Kh2 Rd4 46.Qc8+ Kh7 47.Qc1 Rg4 48.Rxg4 fxg4 49.Qc5 Qf5 50.Qxa7 Qe5+ 51.g3 Qxh5+ 52.Kg1 Qf5 0-1
Firouzja, A (2728)-Aronian, L (2767) [C46]
Stavanger (7.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.h3 Be7 5.Bb5 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Nde2 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.Bd3 b5 11.a3 Ne5 12.Ng3 Nxd3 13.cxd3 c5 14.Qf3 Be6 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.Qxf5 Qd7 17.Qf3 Rfe8 18.Ne2 Rac8 19.Ng3 g6 20.Re1 Qe6 21.Bd2 Nd7 22.Bc3 Bf6 23.Ne2 Bxc3 24.bxc3 Qf6 25.Qg3 c4 26.dxc4 Rxc4 27.f3 Qe5 28.Qf2 Qc5 29.Red1 Qxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Nc5 31.Rd4 Rxd4 32.cxd4 Nd3+ 33.Ke3 Nb2 34.Ra2 Nc4+ 35.Kd3 Nb6 36.Nc3 Rc8 37.f4 f5 38.e5 Kf7 39.g4 Ke6 40.gxf5+ gxf5 41.Rg2 Nd5 42.Ne2 Rc2 43.Rg7 Ra2 44.Rxh7 Rxa3+ 45.Kd2 Ra2+ 46.Ke1 dxe5 47.Rh6+ Ke7 48.dxe5 Ra4 49.Kd2 Nxf4 50.Ng3 Ra2+ 51.Ke3 Nd5+ 52.Kd4 Rd2+ 53.Kc5 Ne3 54.Rxa6 Rd5+ 55.Kc6 Rxe5 56.Ra7+ Kf6 57.Ne2 Nc2 58.Nf4 Nb4+ 59.Kd6 Re4 60.Nh5+ Kg5 61.Ng7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c6 2.Sd6#; 1…e4 2.g6#; 1…Ke4 2.Qg6#; 1…f3+ 2.Qxf3#./PN
