A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Round 2 of the ongoing Magnus Carlsen Invitational being played online on the chess24.com server was completed on April 21 with GMs Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtch winning over Liren Ding and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, respectively, via similar 3-2 victories after both matches went to Armageddon. Both pairings were hard-fought and could have ended the other way around.
The win gave Caruana a share of the lead with Magnus Carlsen, while their losses dropped Vachier-Lagrave and Ding into a share of 3rd to 5th places with Hikaru Nakamura. Aliresa Firouzja and Anish Giri are still winless.
The standings after Round 2: 1-2. Carlsen, Caruana, 5; 3-5. Vachier-Lagrave, Nakamura, Ding, 4; 6. Nepomniachtch, 2; 7-8. Firouzja, Giri, 0.
Ding, L (2791)-Caruana, F (2835) [D73]
chess24.com (2.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.c4 c6 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Ne5 e6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.0-0 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Bxe5 13.dxe5 Nc6 14.Qd2 Kg7 15.Rad1 b6 16.f4 Ba6 17.Rf3 Rc8 18.g4 Qh4 19.Rg3 h5 20.g5 Rfd8 21.Rh3 Qg4 22.Rg3 Qh4 23.Rf1 Ne7 24.f5 gxf5 25.Rf4 d4 26.Nb1 Qxf4 27.Qxf4 Ng6 28.Qd2 Nxe5 29.Ra3 Bb5 30.Rxa7 Ng4 31.Na3 Bxe2 32.h3 d3 33.hxg4 hxg4 34.Nb1 e5 35.Qe3 Rc5 36.Nd2 Rd4 37.Qg3 Rc1+ 38.Kh2 f4 39.Qh4 g3+ 40.Kh3 Rd6 41.Bd5 Re6 42.Rxf7+ Kxf7 43.Qh7+ Kf8 44.Qf5+ 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Ding, L (2791) [C65]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.0-0 Re8 8.Kh1 a5 9.Nc4 Nd7 10.a4 b6 11.b3 f6 12.Be3 Bb4 13.Nh4 Nf8 14.Nf5 Ne6 15.Qg4 g6 16.Qg3 Bc3 17.Rad1 Kh8 18.Nh6 Qe7 19.Qh4 Rf8 20.h3 Qg7 21.Ng4 g5 22.Qg3 Nf4 23.Bd2 Ne2 24.Qh2 Bd4 25.Nge3 Be6 26.Rde1 Nf4 27.Qg3 Qg6 28.Qf3 h5 29.Nf5 g4 30.Qg3 Bxf5 31.exf5 Qxf5 32.Re4 gxh3 33.Bxf4 exf4 34.Qxh3 Qxh3+ 35.gxh3 c5 36.Rxf4 Kh7 37.Kg2 Rae8 38.Kf3 f5 39.Ne3 Bg7 40.Rg1 Bh6 41.Rh4 f4 42.Nd5 Re5 43.Nxc7 Rf6 44.c3 Rg6 45.Rd1 Rc6 46.Nb5 Kg6 47.d4 cxd4 48.cxd4 Rxb5 49.axb5 Rc3+ 50.Ke4 Bg5 51.Rg1 Kh6 52.Rxf4 Bxf4 53.Kxf4 Rxb3 54.d5 a4 55.Rd1 Rb4+ 56.Kf5 Rxb5 57.Ke6 Rb2 58.d6 Re2+ 59.Kd5 Rxf2 60.d7 Rf8 61.Kc6 Kg5 62.d8Q Rxd8 63.Rxd8 Kh4 64.Rd3 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Caruana, F (2835) [A07]
chess24.com (tb/2.5) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.0-0 c6 6.b3 0-0 7.c4 a5 8.Nc3 Ne4 9.Bb2 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 a4 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.bxa4 Bd7 13.Qb3 Bxa4 14.Qxb7 Nc6 15.Rfb1 Qd6 16.Qb2 Na5 17.Bb4 Qe6 18.e3 Nc4 19.Qe2 Bb5 20.Qe1 Rfb8 21.Nd2 Qd7 22.Nb3 e5 23.dxe5 Nxe5 24.Bc3 Bc4 25.Qd2 Qf5 26.Rd1 h5 27.Nd4 Qd7 28.h4 Ra3 29.Rdc1 Rba8 30.Rc2 Bd3 31.Rcc1 Bc4 32.Nb3 Qf5 33.Rd1 Nf3+ 34.Bxf3 Bxc3 35.Qxc3 Qxf3 36.Qb2 Rxa2 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [A11]
chess24.com (2.1) 2020
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Na3 Nb6 7.Qc2 Be6 8.Ng5 Bg4 9.Nxc4 Bxe2 10.Ne5 Bh5 11.Re1 h6 12.Ngxf7 Bxf7 13.b4 a6 14.a4 g5 15.Ba3 Bg7 16.Ng6 Bxg6 17.Qxg6+ Kf8 18.b5 Nbd5 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Rab1 Qd7 21.Rb3 Kg8 22.Reb1 Qe8 23.Qd3 Rh7 24.Bb2 Bf8 25.Be5 Nd7 26.Bxd5+ cxd5 27.Qxd5+ e6 28.Qd4 Rf7 29.Bd6 Bxd6 30.Qxd6 Qe7 31.Qc6 Raf8 32.Re3 Rxf2 33.Rxe6 Qf7 34.Qe4 Nf6 35.Qc4 Rf3 36.Kg2 g4 37.Rbb6 Kh8 38.h3 Nh7 39.Qd4+ Qg7 40.Qxg7+ Kxg7 41.Re7+ Kh8 42.Re2 gxh3+ 43.Kxh3 R3f6 44.Rb7 Rg6 45.Ra7 Ng5+ 46.Kg2 Rgf6 47.d4 R8f7 48.Ra8+ Kg7 49.d5 Rd7 50.Rd2 Rfd6 51.g4 Ne4 52.Rc2 Nf6 53.Rc6 Rxd5 54.Raxa6 Rd2+ 55.Kg3 R7d3+ 56.Kf4 Rf2+ 57.Ke5 Re2+ 58.Kf4 Nd5+ 0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [B51]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.c3 Ngf6 5.Bd3 g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Re1 0-0 8.Bc2 b5 9.d4 Bb7 10.d5 Re8 11.a4 a6 12.Bf4 Nh5 13.Be3 Nb6 14.Nbd2 e6 15.dxe6 Rxe6 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Qxa8 18.Bb3 Re7 19.h3 Nd7 20.Bc2 h6 21.Qa1 Re8 22.Qxa8 Rxa8 23.g4 Nhf6 24.Bf4 Ra2 25.Rb1 Ne8 26.Bb3 Ra6 27.c4 b4 28.Ne1 Nc7 29.Be3 Ne6 30.f3 Nd4 31.Bd1 Ra2 32.Nd3 Nc6 33.f4 Nd4 34.Kf2 Nf6 35.e5 Ne4+ 36.Ke1 dxe5 37.fxe5 Ne6 38.Nb3 Bf8 39.Ra1 Rxa1 40.Nxa1 Ba6 41.Bf3 N6g5 42.Bg2 Bxc4 43.Nf4 Ng3 44.Bf2 N5e4 45.Bxg3 Nxg3 46.Kf2 Bg7 47.Kxg3 Bxe5 48.Kf3 b3 49.Bf1 Bxf1 50.Nxb3 Bd6 51.Nd2 Bb5 52.b3 Kg7 53.Ke3 Bc6 54.Nd3 f5 55.gxf5 gxf5 56.Nc4 Be7 57.Nf4 Bg5 58.Ne5 Bb5 59.Nf3 Kf7 60.Ne5+ Kf6 61.Nf3 Bc6 62.Nxg5 hxg5 63.Nd3 Bg2 64.h4 gxh4 65.Nxc5 Kg5 66.Kf2 Bd5 67.b4 Kg4 68.Nd3 f4 69.Ne5+ Kf5 70.Nd3 Be4 71.Nc5 h3 72.Kg1 f3 73.b5 Kf4 74.b6 f2+ 75.Kxf2 h2 0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [C42]
chess24.com (tb/2.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.Qe2+ Be6 9.Ng5 Qe7 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.c3 0-0 12.f4 c5 13.0-0 Nc6 14.Be3 Rae8 15.Nd2 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Bb5 Neg4 18.Bxe8 Rxe8 19.Rf3 Nxe3 20.Re1 Nf5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1Nxd4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc8/g8/xc6/xg6/d5/f5 2.S(x)f5#; 1…cxd4 2.Re6#; 1…Kxd4 2.Qxc5#; 1…Bxc2 2.Sxc2#./PN
