By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Peter Svidler defeated their respective opponents Monday to enter the semifinals round of the Pepe Cuenca and Divis Invitational online blitz knockout tournament together with early qualifiers David Anton Guijarro and Vladislav Artemiev.
Svidler squeaked past Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, 7-6, in a slambang contest that went down the proverbial wire and was only decided on the money game. The two battled to a 6-6 standoff after 12 games before Svidler outmaneuvered Vidit in a nicely played 13th battle. Duda, on the other hand, had an easier time with Harikrishna – eliminating the Indian chess ace via a 6½-2½ rout. Thus, the pairings in the semifinals will be Anton Guijarro versus Svidler and Duda against Artemiev.
Duda, J-K (2753)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [C53]
chess24.com (1.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Nbd2 a6 8.a4 0-0 9.Re1 Re8 10.Nf1 Ba7 11.b4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Rb1 Ne7 15.d4 exd4 16.Nxd4 Bxd4 17.cxd4 Qc6 18.Qxc6 Nxc6 19.d5 Nxd5 20.exd5 Rxe1 21.dxc6 bxc6 22.g3 a5 23.bxa5 Kh7 24.Kg2 d5 25.Ne3 Rxa5 26.Bd2 Rxb1 27.Bxa5 Ra1 28.Bxc7 d4 29.Nc4 Rxa4 30.Ne5 c5 31.Bb6 f6 32.Nf3 Rc4 33.Kf1 d3 34.Ke1 Rc2 35.h4 h5 36.Ba7 Re2 37.Kf1 c4 38.Bd4 Kg6 39.Bc3 Rc2 40.Ba5 Rc1 41.Kg2 c3 42.Bb4 c2 0-1
Harikrishna, P (2719)-Duda, J-K (2753) [A45]
chess24.com (1.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bh4 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Qd1 g5 8.Bg3 h5 9.f3 h4 10.Bf2 Nxf2 11.Kxf2 Qb6 12.Qb3 e5 13.Qxb6 axb6 14.Nd2 Bc5 15.Nb3 Ke7 16.Bd3 Be6 17.Ne2 f5 18.Bc2 f4 19.Nxc5 bxc5 20.exf4 gxf4 21.a3 Raf8 22.Rae1 Kd6 23.g3 fxg3+ 24.hxg3 Bg4 25.Rxh4 Rxh4 26.gxh4 Bxf3 27.Kg3 e4 28.Ng1 Rg8+ 29.Kf4 Rg4+ 30.Ke3 d4+ 31.cxd4 cxd4+ 32.Kd2 e3+ 33.Kc1 Bd5 34.h5 Ne5 35.h6 d3 36.h7 d2+ 0-1
Duda, J-K (2753)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [D03]
chess24.com (1.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Qb6 6.Qc1 Bf5 7.Nbd2 e6 8.Be2 Be7 9.Nh4 Bg6 10.0-0 Rc8 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Nf3 Bd6 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.Bf4 Bxf4 15.exf4 0-0 16.Qd2 Rfd8 17.Bd3 b5 18.Rac1 a6 19.Qe2 Qb6 20.Bxg6 fxg6 21.Qxe6+ Kf8 22.Ne5 1-0
Svidler, P (2723)-Vidit, SG (2726) [C65]
chess24.com (1.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d5 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Bc4 Qd6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.Nbd2 Bf5 10.b4 Bb6 11.Ng5 Qd7 12.Nde4 Nd5 13.Qf3 Nce7 14.a4 a5 15.b5 h6 16.Ng3 Bg4 17.Qe4 hxg5 18.h4 Nxc3 19.Qxe5 Bd4 20.Qxg5 Bf6 0-1
Vidit, SG (2726)-Svidler, P (2723) [D02]
chess24.com (1.4) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Rfd1 Qa5 11.Bf4 Qa6 12.b3 Rac8 13.e4 Rfd8 14.e5 Ne8 15.Ng5 Nf8 16.Qf3 Rd7 17.Rac1 h6 18.Nh3 dxc4 19.bxc4 Ba3 20.Rb1 Qxc4 21.Ne4 Rxd4 22.Rxd4 Qxd4 23.g4 b5 24.g5 h5 25.Rd1 Qa4 26.Nd6 Bxd6 27.exd6 Rd8 28.Qxh5 Ng6 29.Bg3 e5 30.Qf3 Rxd6 31.Rxd6 Nxd6 32.Qxc6 Qd1+ 33.Kg2 Ne7 34.Qc5 Nef5 35.Qxe5 Qg4 36.f3 Nh4+ 37.Kf2 Qxf3+ 38.Ke1 Ng2+ 39.Kd2 Nc4+ 0-1
Svidler, P (2723)-Vidit, SG (2726) [A36]
Pepe Cuenca Invitational chess24.com INT (1.13), 13.04.2020
1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.b3 Nf6 6.Bb2 0-0 7.d3 e6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.f4 e5 10.fxe5 Ng4 11.Nf3 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Qd2 d6 14.0-0-0 Qe7 15.Na4 Re8 16.e4 Bg4 17.Rde1 Rad8 18.Rhf1 Bh3 19.Rf2 d5 20.Bxe5 Qxe5 21.Qc3 Qg5+ 22.Kb2 dxe4 23.Rxe4 Rxe4 24.dxe4 Rd4 25.Qa5 Rxe4 26.Qxc5 Qxc5 27.Nxc5 Re3 28.a4 Kg7 29.Rd2 Re5 30.b4 Bf1 31.Kc3 Re1 32.Rc2 Re3+ 33.Kd4 Ra3 34.Rf2 Ra1 35.Nb3 Rd1+ 36.Kc5 f5 37.Na5 Rc1 38.Rf4 Kf6 39.Nxc6 g5 40.Rd4 Be2 41.Nxa7 Rf1 42.b5 f4 43.gxf4 gxf4 44.b6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rxe7!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Rd8, Bxe7 2.Se3#; 1…Rxe7, Bh6, Kb5, Sg4/f1 2.Sfd6#; 1…Se5 2.Sbd6#; 1…Kd5 2.Se3, Qxf7#; 1…Bc2 2.Qxf7#./PN
