RICHARD Rapport won his Round 6 outing to increase his lead in the ongoing 9th Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Norway, after closest pursuer Ian Nepomniachtchi was held by Sergey Karjakin.
Rapport defeated Aryan Tari in 58 moves of a Slav while Nepomniachtchi drew with Karjakin in 29 moves of an Open Catalan in their classical game; then proceeded to lose the Armageddon. Based on tournament scoring rules, a classical win earns three points, while a classical draw goes on to an Armageddon decider where the winner gets 1Ā½ points, and the loser gets one point.
Nepomniachtchiās Armageddon loss proved beneficial for Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Aliresa Firouzja in 52 moves of a Ruy Lopez Archangelsk/Moeller Variation. This victory gave solo third place to the world champion ā only Ā½ point behind Nepomniachtchi, but 3Ā½ points behind Rapport. But with four rounds to go, Carlsen is certainly capable of overhauling that lead.
The standings after Round 6: 1. Rapport, 12Ā½; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 9Ā½; 3. Carlsen, 9; 4. Karjakin, 8Ā½; 5. Firouzja, 6; 6. Tari, 3.
Carlsen, M (2855)-
Firouzja, A (2754) [C78]
Stavanger (6.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Be3 Nxe4 13.Nbd2 Nxd2 14.Qxd2 0-0 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.Qxd8 Rbxd8 17.Bxa7 Nxa7 18.Nxe5 Bd5 19.Bc2 Nc6 20.Nxc6 Bxc6 21.Rad1 Rfe8 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Rd1 Rxd1+ 24.Bxd1 Kf8 25.f4 Ke7 26.Kf2 Kd6 27.b4 Bd5 28.g4 h6 29.g5 hxg5 30.fxg5 c5 31.Ke3 cxb4 32.cxb4 Ke5 33.h4 g6 34.Bg4 Be6 35.h5 gxh5 36.Bxh5 Kf5 37.Bf3 Bc8 38.Kd4 Kxg5 39.Ke5 f5 40.Kd6 f4 41.Ke5 Kg6 42.Kxf4 Kf6 43.Bd5 Bd7 44.Bb7 Ke6 45.Ke4 Kd6 46.Bxa6 Bc6+ 47.Kd4 Be8 48.Bb7 Bd7 49.Bf3 Bc8 50.Be2 Bd7 51.Bd3 Bc6 52.Be4 1-0
Karjakin, S (2758)-
Nepomniachtchi, I (2792) [E06]
Stavanger (6.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nxc6 Qe8 10.Nxe7+ Qxe7 11.Nc3 Rd8 12.Qa4 Rxd4 13.Be3 e5 14.Qc6 Rb8 15.Bxd4 exd4 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.Qxd5 c5 18.Qxc4 Bh3 19.b3 Bxf1 20.Kxf1 Re8 21.Rc1 h5 22.Qd3 g6 23.h4 Qb7 24.Qf3 Qb5 25.Rc4 Re5 26.Qd3 Qb7 27.Qf3 Qb5 28.Qd3 Qb7 29.Qf3 Ā½-Ā½
Karjakin, S (2758)-
Nepomniachtchi, I (2792) [C24]
Stavanger Armageddon (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 a5 6.a4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bd6 8.exd5 cxd5 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Na3 Nbd7 11.Nb5 Bb8 12.0-0 0-0 13.Bh4 h6 14.Re1 Re8 15.d4 e4 16.Nd2 Ra6 17.c4 dxc4 18.Bxc4 Bxc4 19.Nxc4 Qe7 20.d5 Qb4 21.b3 Ne5 22.d6 Nxc4 23.bxc4 Bxd6 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Qg4+ Kf8 26.Rxe4 Rxe4 27.Qxe4 Bc5 28.Nc7 Bxf2+ 29.Kf1 Qd2 30.Qf3 Rd6 31.Nb5 Qb2 32.Nxd6 Qxa1+ 33.Kxf2 Qd4+ 34.Ke2 Qxd6 35.Qxb7 Qe5+ 36.Kd3 Qf5+ 37.Qe4 Qf1+ 38.Kd4 Qd1+ 39.Kc5 Qxa4 40.Qb1 Qa3+ 41.Kb5 Kg7 42.c5 a4 43.Qb4 Qb3 44.c6 Qd5+ 45.Kb6 Qb3 46.Kc5 Qe3+ 47.Kb5 Qb3 48.c7 Qd5+ 49.Qc5 Qd7+ 50.Qc6 Qc8 51.Kxa4 h5 52.Kb5 h4 53.Kb6 h3 54.g3 f5 55.Ka7 1-0
Rapport, R (2760)-
Tari, A (2642) [D32]
Stavanger (6.3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nc6 9.Qd3 Rc8 10.e3 h6 11.Bh4 Bb4 12.Rc1 0-0 13.Be2 g5 14.Bg3 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 Be6 16.Nd4 Nxd4 17.Qxd4 Ne4 18.f3 Nd6 19.Bxd6 Qxd6 20.h4 Qb6 21.hxg5 Qxd4 22.exd4 hxg5 23.Rh5 f6 24.Bd3 Rf7 25.Kd2 Kf8 26.Re1 Rc6 27.Rh8+ Kg7 28.Reh1 f5 29.R1h7+ Kf6 30.Rh6+ Kg7 31.Bb5 Rc8 32.R8h7+ Kg8 33.Rxf7 Bxf7 34.Bd7 Rd8 35.Bxf5 Kg7 36.Rh7+ Kf6 37.Bd3 Rc8 38.Rh6+ Ke7 39.Bf5 Rc4 40.Kc2 b6 41.Kb3 Rc7 42.Bg4 Kf8 43.Rf6 Kg7 44.Rd6 Re7 45.g3 Kf8 46.a3 Re1 47.Rd8+ Re8 48.Rxe8+ Kxe8 49.Kb4 Kd8 50.Kb5 Kc7 51.Ka6 Kb8 52.f4 gxf4 53.gxf4 Bg6 54.f5 Be8 55.Bf3 Bf7 56.a4 Bg8 57.Bh5 Kc7 58.Kxa7 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne6!, and Blackās futile options are: 1…Bxf4 2.Nexd4#; 1…Rxf4 2.Ng5#; 1…Ke4, Nxg4/d3/xh3/d1/h1 2.Qb7#; 1…Ne4 2.Nbxd4#./PN
