By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
There were so many interesting and hard-fought games in the just-concluded FIDE Online Nations Cup that ended May 10 on the chess.com server. Space, however, prevented us from sharing those with you.
So, for this issue, we’ve chosen some just to show our readers that online live chess battles are as dynamic and furious as traditional over-the-board combat. The only fly in the ointment for online chess is the unexpected technical glitches that occur now and then.
At any rate, here are the five nice games from that six-team event that was won by China. Enjoy!
Anand, V (2753) – Radjabov, T (2765) [E97]
chess.com (7.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 a5 10.bxa5 Nh5 11.Nd2 Rxa5 12.Nb3 Ra8 13.Bxh5 gxh5 14.Qxh5 b6 15.a4 Ng6 16.a5 Nf4 17.Bxf4 exf4 18.Qf3 bxa5 19.Rxa5 Rxa5 20.Nxa5 Qg5 21.Ne2 Be5 22.h3 Bd7 23.Nb3 Ra8 24.Nbd4 Kh8 25.Rb1 h6 26.Kh1 Kh7 27.Nc6 Bxc6 28.dxc6 Ra2 29.g3 fxg3 30.Qxf7+ Qg7 31.Qf5+ Qg6 32.Nxg3 Qxf5 33.Nxf5 Ra6 34.Ne7 Kg7 35.Rb7 Kf7 36.Rxc7 d5 37.Rd7 1-0
Firouzja, A (2728)-Vidit, SG (2726) [C28]
chess.com (7.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.d3 Bb4 5.Nge2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Be6 8.Bxd5 Bxd5 9.f4 f6 10.fxe5 Nxe5 11.Nf4 Bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.c4 Bf7 14.Rb1 b6 15.Qe1 Re8 16.Qg3 Qd7 17.h3 Qa4 18.Rb3 Qxa2 19.Ne2 Qa4 20.Rxf6 Qd7 21.Rf2 Ng6 22.Bb2 Qd6 23.Qxd6 cxd6 24.Ng3 Be6 25.Nh5 Ne5 26.Rb5 Bf7 27.Ng3 Bg6 28.Rd5 Rad8 29.Bc3 h6 30.Rf1 Nc6 31.h4 Rf8 32.Re1 Bf7 33.Rb5 Rfe8 34.Rxe8+ Bxe8 35.Nf5 Rd7 36.Rd5 Ne7 37.Nxe7+ Rxe7 38.Rxd6 Ba4 39.Bb4 Rf7 40.c3 Rd7 41.c5 bxc5 42.Rxd7 Bxd7 43.Bxc5 a5 44.Kf2 Kf7 45.Ke3 Ke6 46.c4 Bc6 47.g3 Bg2 48.Bf8 Kf7 49.Ba3 Bf1 50.Kd4 g5 51.hxg5 hxg5 52.Kc3 Ke6 53.d4 g4 54.Bc1 a4 55.d5+ Kd6 56.Kd4 Bg2 57.c5+ Kc7 58.Ke5 Bf3 59.Ke6 Bg2 60.d6+ 1-0
Harikrishna, P (2719)-Cori, J (2652) [B32]
chess.com (7.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 Rb8 13.b3 a5 14.g3 0-0 15.Bg2 g6 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.0-0 Qe7 18.Qe2 Be6 19.Rad1 f6 20.Rd3 Nd8 21.Rfd1 Nb7 22.h4 Rfd8 23.Qd2 Kg7 24.Ne3 Rd7 25.f4 Rbd8 26.f5 Bg8 27.fxg6 hxg6 28.Ng4 Bh7 29.Rf3 Rf8 30.Qh6+ Kh8 31.Nxe5 1-0
Hou, Y (2658)-Goryachkina, A (2582) [C15]
chess.com (8.4) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qd3 dxe4 5.Qxe4 Nf6 6.Qh4 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Qc7 9.Be3 Nbd7 10.Nf3 Nxc5 11.Qg3 Qxg3 12.hxg3 b6 13.a4 0-0 14.a5 Bb7 15.Ne5 Be4 16.Nd3 Nd5 17.Bxc5 bxc5 18.c4 Nb4 19.Nxb4 cxb4 20.Bd3 Bg6 21.Ke2 Rfc8 22.Rhb1 f5 23.Rxb4 e5 24.Ke3 Rc5 25.a6 Rd8 26.Rb5 f4+ 27.gxf4 exf4+ 28.Kxf4 Rc6 29.Ke3 Bf7 30.Rb7 Bxc4 31.Rxa7 Bxd3 32.cxd3 Rc3 33.Rb7 Rcxd3+ 34.Ke2 Rd2+ 35.Ke1 Rc2 36.a7 Re8+ 37.Kf1 1-0
Vidit, SG (2726)-Aronian, L (2773) [E20]
chess.com (8.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.Be2 Re8 11.Nf3 Bg4 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.d6 Bf8 14.h3 Bh5 15.Nb5 Rb8 16.Bf4 a6 17.Nc7 Re4 18.Bg3 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Rd4 20.Qe1 Bxd6 21.Nd5 Bxg3 22.Qxg3 Kh8 23.Rad1 Qf8 24.Rxd4 cxd4 25.b4 Nxd5 26.Bxd5 Nf6 27.Qe5 Nxd5 28.cxd5 f6 29.Qxd4 Rd8 30.Re1 h6 31.Re6 Qf7 32.Qe4 Qc7 33.a4 Kg8 34.Re7 Qb6+ 35.Kh1 Qd6 36.a5 f5 37.Qe6+ Qxe6 38.dxe6 Rd1+ 39.Kh2 Re1 40.Kg3 Re4 41.Rxb7 Rxe6 42.Kf4 g6 43.Kf3 Kf8 44.Rb6 Re4 45.Rxa6 Rxb4 46.Rxg6 Rb5 47.a6 h5 48.Kf4 Kf7 49.Rc6 h4 50.Kg5 Rb2 51.Kxf5 Rf2+ 52.Kg4 Rxg2+ 53.Kxh4 Rg1 54.Kh5 Rg3 55.h4 Kg7 56.Rc7+ Kf6 57.a7 Ra3 58.Kg4 Ra4+ 59.Kf3 Kg6 60.Ke3 Kh5 61.Kd3 Ra1 62.Kd4 Kxh4 63.Kc5 Kg5 64.Kb6 Kf6 65.Kb7 Rb1+ 66.Kc8 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bc4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Rb3 2.Bxd6#; 1…Ke5 2.Sd3#; 1…g2 2.Qh2#./PN
