By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
The Pepe Cuenca and Divis Invitational online blitz knockout tournament started Sunday, April 12, on the chess24.com server with eight of the world’s top grandmasters competing.
Pepe Cuenca, of course, is GM José Fernando Cuenca Jiménez while Divis is IM David Martinez Martin – two popular Chess 24 podcasters who are both from Spain. The event, which serves as a warm up for the forthcoming Magnus Carlsen Invitational starting on April 18, is a best of 12 blitz matches with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment per move. The first player to score 6½ points wins.
The invited grandmasters are Teimour Radjabov (2765), Leinier Dominguez Perez (2758), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2753), Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2726), Peter Svidler (2723), Pentala Harikrishna (2719), Vladislav Artemiev (2716) and David Anton Guijarro (2703).
The opening round saw Guijarro and Artemiev knock the top two seeds out of the competition early. Guiajrro eliminated Radjabov, 7-6, while Artemiev booted out Dominguez Perez, 7-4. The next Round 1 matches to be played will be Svider versus Vidit and Duda against Harikrishna.
Anton Guijarro, D (2703)-Radjabov, T (2765) [D55]
chess24.com (1.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.e3 c6 8.Rc1 Nd7 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 dxc4 11.Bxc4 e5 12.d5 Nb6 13.b3 Bf5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e4 Bg4 16.Be2 Rc8 17.h3 Bh5 18.Qc2 Qe7 19.Rfd1 Rfd8 20.g3 Qb4 21.Ne1 Bg6 22.Nd3 Qe7 23.Bg4 Rb8 24.Ne1 Rd4 25.Nf3 Rbd8 26.Bf5 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 28.Nxd1 Bxf5 29.exf5 Qd7 30.Nc3 Nd5 31.Na4 Nb4 32.Qb1 Qd5 33.Nh2 e4 34.Ng4 Bd4 35.Kh2 Nd3 36.Qc2 h5 37.Ne3 Bxe3 38.fxe3 Qxf5 39.Nc3 Qf1 40.Qe2 Qf5 41.Qg2 Ne1 42.Qxe4 Qf1 43.Qe8+ Kh7 44.Qe4+ f5 45.Qh1 Qf2+ 0-1
Radjabov,T (2765)-Anton Guijarro,D (2703) [D37]
chess24.com (1.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4 Nxe4 7.0-0 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd6 9.Ne5 Bxe5 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Nc6 12.Rb1 Nxe5 13.Bb5+ c6 14.Be2 f6 15.Be3 Kf7 16.a4 a5 17.f4 Ng6 18.Bh5 Re8 19.Be2 Ne7 20.c4 Nf5 21.Bf2 e5 22.fxe5 fxe5 23.c5 Be6 24.Rxb7+ Re7 25.Rb2 Bd5 26.g4 Nd4 27.Bxd4 exd4 28.Rxd4 Rae8 29.Kf2 Re4 30.Rbd2 Kf6 31.Bf1 Rxd4 32.Rxd4 Ke5 33.Rd2 Rf8+ 34.Ke1 Rf4 35.Re2+ Re4 36.Kd2 Rxe2+ 37.Bxe2 Kd4 38.g5 h6 39.gxh6 gxh6 40.h4 Bb3 0-1
Radjabov, T (2765)-Anton Guijarro, D (2703) [C50]
chess24.com (1.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.0-0 a5 8.Re1 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.a4 d5 11.h3 Qd6 12.d4 Ba7 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Nc4 Qe7 15.Ncxe5 Nxe5 16.Rxe5 c5 17.Qe2 Rae8 18.Bg5 Qd7 19.dxc5 Bb8 20.Re4 h6 21.Bd2 Nf6 22.Rc4 e5 23.Be3 e4 24.Nd4 Qc7 25.g3 Qd7 26.Kg2 Nd5 27.Re1 Rf6 28.Nb5 Ref8 29.Rxe4 Nxe3+ 30.Rxe3 Rxf2+ 31.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 32.Kxf2 Kh7 33.Re8 Bc7 34.Nxc7 Qxc7 35.R8e5 Qc6 36.R1e4 Qd7 37.g4 Qd2+ 38.Re2 Qd1 39.Kg2 Qxa4 40.Kg3 Qb5 41.h4 a4 42.g5 hxg5 43.hxg5 Qd3+ 44.Kg4 Qd1 45.Kf5 Qd7+ 46.Kf4 Qf7+ 47.Ke3 Qb3 48.Rd2 a3 49.g6+ Kxg6 50.Rd6+ Kf7 51.bxa3 Qxc3+ 52.Kf4 Qc1+ 53.Ke4 Qxa3 54.Rd7+ Kg8 55.Kd5 Qd3+ 56.Ke6 Qg6+ 0-1
Artemiev, V (2716)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [A14]
chess24.com (1.3) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.cxd5 exd5 7.b3 Re8 8.Bb2 c6 9.d3 Bf5 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Qc2 Bf8 12.Rfe1 h6 13.a3 a5 14.Rad1 Qb6 15.e4 Be6 16.e5 Nh7 17.d4 c5 18.Nf1 Rac8 19.Ne3 cxd4 20.Bxd4 Rxc2 21.Bxb6 Rc3 22.Bxa5 Rxb3 23.Nxd5 Bg4 24.Re3 Rxa3 25.Rxa3 Bxa3 26.Nc7 Rc8 27.e6 Ndf6 28.exf7+ Kxf7 29.Ne5+ Kf8 30.Nxg4 Nxg4 31.Bxb7 Rb8 32.Rd7 Ng5 33.Na6 Re8 34.Bc3 Nf6 35.Bxf6 gxf6 36.h4 Nf3+ 37.Bxf3 1-0
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Artemiev, V (2716) [B12]
chess24.com (1.3) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0-0 Bg6 7.Nbd2 Nh6 8.Nb3 Be7 9.c3 0-0 10.Bf4 c5 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.Nxc5 Bxc5 13.Qd2 Nf5 14.g4 Ne7 15.Nd4 Nc6 16.Bg3 Bb6 17.h4 h6 18.h5 Bh7 19.Kg2 Nxd4 20.cxd4 Rc8 21.Rac1 Qd7 22.Bf4 Qa4 23.b4 Qd7 24.g5 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 hxg5 26.Bxg5 Bd8 27.h6 f6 28.exf6 Bxf6 29.Bf4 Qf7 30.Rc7 Be4+ 31.f3 Qg6+ 32.Bg3 Bf5 33.hxg7 Bxg7 34.Rxb7 Rc8 35.Qe3 Rc2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.gxf4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxf4 2.Bg2#; 1…Rxe5 2.Qxe5, Re3#; 1…Rf6/g5/h5/xf4 2.Re3#; 1…Qb3 2.Sxc5, Bg2#; 1…Qxc3 2.Qxd5#; 1…Qa3 2.Qxd5, Bg2#; 1…Rd3 2.Sxc5#./PN
