Fabiano Caruana, who was four points behind Wesley So entering the final six games of their semifinal match, managed to overcome the lead and went on to take a finals seat via a narrow 9½-8½ victory in the Clutch Chess Showdown II on the lichess.org server.
The other finalist is Magnus Carlsen who continued his drubbing of Levon Aronian in the last six games of their semis match to win by a mile, 12-6.
The Caruana-So tally would have been level at 6-6 with regular scoring, but the scoring format adapted – awarded double and triple the points of a won game – made all the difference.
The Carlsen-Caruana championship match was being played as we were writing this, and a slam-bang affair is in the worlds after the two have already traded wins and draws in the first six games to stay level at 4-4.
Aronian, L (2773)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B00]
lichess.org (2.7) 2020
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qa5 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.0-0 a6 7.Ba4 Nf6 8.d3 0-0-0 9.Ng5 Bg4 10.Qd2 Bh5 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Qe1 h6 13.Nge4 e6 14.Bd2 Be7 15.b3 Bg6 16.Na4 Qd5 17.Ng3 c5 18.Be3 Ng4 19.Qa5 Nxe3 20.Qxa6+ Qb7 21.Qxb7+ Kxb7 22.fxe3 Ra8 23.Rf4 Bg5 24.Rf3 c4 25.dxc4 Kc6 26.Ne2 Rxa4 27.bxa4 Ra8 28.Nd4+ Kc5 29.Nb3+ Kxc4 30.h4 Bf6 31.Rd1 Be5 32.a5 Bh5 33.Rd7 Bxf3 34.gxf3 Rf8 35.f4 Bd6 36.a6 Ra8 37.Rxf7 Rxa6 38.Rxg7 Rxa2 39.Rg2 e5 40.f5 Kc3 41.Nd2 Ra1+ 42.Kh2 Kxc2 43.Ne4+ Kd3 44.Nxd6 cxd6 45.Rg6 d5 46.Rxh6 Kxe3 47.h5 d4 48.Re6 e4 49.f6 d3 50.Kg2 d2 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Caruana, F (2835) [D00]
lichess.org (2.9) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Bf5 3.e3 e6 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 10.Bxd5 exd5 11.0-0 a6 12.Qb3 Be6 13.Na4 Rb8 14.Bxc7 Qxc7 15.Qxb4 Nxb4 16.Rxc7 Rfc8 17.Rxc8+ Rxc8 18.a3 Nd3 19.b4 Rc2 20.Nc5 Nxc5 21.bxc5 Bf5 22.Ra1 f6 23.h3 Rb2 24.g4 Bd3 25.Kg2 Kf7 26.g5 a5 27.Kg3 a4 28.h4 Ke6 29.Ne1 Bc4 30.Ng2 Kd7 31.Nf4 b6 32.Nh5 fxg5 33.hxg5 bxc5 34.dxc5 g6 35.Nf6+ Kc6 36.Nxh7 Kxc5 37.Nf8 Bd3 38.Ne6+ Kd6 39.Nf4 Bb1 40.Ne2 Rb3 41.Nd4 Rb2 42.Ne2 Rb3 43.Kf4 Kc5 44.Nc3 Rxc3 45.Rxb1 Rxa3 46.Ke5 Ra2 47.f4 Re2 48.Kf6 Rxe3 49.Kxg6 a3 50.f5 Kc4 51.f6 a2 52.Ra1 Kb3 53.f7 Rf3 54.Kg7 d4 55.f8Q Rxf8 56.Kxf8 Kb2 57.Rxa2+ Kxa2 58.g6 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-So, Wesley (2770) [B19]
lichess.org (2.10) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 e6 10.Bd2 Ngf6 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.Kb1 0-0 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qe2 Qd5 16.Ne5 Qe4 17.Be3 Nd5 18.Qd3 Qxd3 19.Rxd3 Nxe3 20.fxe3 h5 21.Rb3 Bd6 22.Nc4 Bg3 23.Rh3 Bf2 24.Rxb7 Rfb8 25.Rxb8+ Rxb8 26.Ne5 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Aronian, L (2773) [A22]
lichess.org (2.8) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 Bb4 4.e4 0-0 5.Nge2 d6 6.h3 Nc6 7.Bg2 a6 8.0-0 b5 9.d3 bxc4 10.dxc4 Bc5 11.Kh2 Rb8 12.b3 a5 13.Nd5 a4 14.Be3 axb3 15.axb3 Bxe3 16.fxe3 Nd7 17.Nec3 Nc5 18.Nb5 Ne6 19.h4 Bd7 20.Bh3 Rb7 21.b4 Ne7 22.Ra2 Nc8 23.Ra8 Kh8 24.Qh5 Qe8 25.Bf5 h6 26.Bh3 c6 27.Nxd6 Nxd6 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Nf6 Re7 30.c5 Nc4 31.Nxd7 Rbxd7 32.Rxf7 Rxf7 33.Bxe6 Rf2+ 34.Kh3 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Caruana, F (2835) [D10]
lichess.org (2.11) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 Nc6 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.f3 Bh5 8.Qb3 Qd7 9.Ne2 e6 10.Nd2 Bg6 11.Bb5 Be7 12.Rc1 0-0 13.Kf2 Rfc8 14.Qa4 a6 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nb3 Qb7 17.Rhd1 a5 18.Rd2 Bb4 19.Nc5 Qb6 20.Qd1 Bxd2 21.Qxd2 Qd8 22.Nc3 Nh5 23.Bg3 Nxg3 24.hxg3 Qe7 25.Ne2 f6 26.Na4 Ra7 27.Nf4 Be8 28.Rc5 Rca8 29.Qc3 Qd6 30.Nd3 Qd8 31.Nf4 Bd7 32.Qa3 Rb8 33.Rc3 Qf8 34.Rc5 e5 35.Ne2 Qd6 36.Qc3 Rb5 37.b3 h6 38.Nc1 Ra8 39.Nd3 Re8 40.Qb2 e4 41.Nf4 g5 42.Ne2 exf3 43.gxf3 Qe6 44.Rc3 Qh3 45.Kg1 h5 46.Qb1 Kg7 47.Nc5 h4 48.Qf1 Qxf1+ 49.Kxf1 Bf5 50.g4 Bg6 51.Kf2 Re7 52.Na4 Rc7 53.Nc5 Re7 54.Na4 Rb8 55.Ng1 f5 56.gxf5 Bxf5 57.Rxc6 Rbe8 58.Rc3 h3 59.Ne2 h2 60.Ng3 Bh3 61.Nb6 Be6 62.Kg2 Rh8 63.e4 dxe4 64.fxe4 Rf7 65.d5 Bg4 66.e5 Rf4 67.e6 Bf5 68.Rc1 Bh3+ 69.Kxh2 Bxe6+ 70.Kg1 Bf7 71.d6 Rg4 72.Kg2 Bg6 73.d7 Rd4 74.Rc8 Rxd7 75.Rxh8 Rd2+ 76.Kf3 Kxh8 77.a4 Bf7 78.Ne4 Rd3+ 79.Ke2 Rxb3 80.Nd7 Bc4+ 81.Kd2 Rd3+ 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO. The key to our last problem is 1.Ng5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bb7 2.Sf7#; 1…Kf4 2.Qe4#; 1…Qf3, Sf2 2.S(x)f3#; 1…Qf4 2.Re6#; 1…Qxf5+ 2.Qxf5#./
