The third leg of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, dubbed the Chessable Masters, got underway on the chess24.com server with a $150,000 prize fund and featuring twelve of the world’s top grandmasters competing in two groups of six players.
The playing cast in Group A is led by Carlsen himself and includes Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Pentala Harikrishna, Vladislav Artemiev, and Daniil Dubov.
Group B, meanwhile, is bannered by Fabiano Caruana and includes Liren Ding, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Teimour Radjabov, and Anish Giri.
The tournament format is a double round robin with a time control of 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per game.
The top 4 in each group will advance to the knockout mini-match stages.
After the first half of play, Artemiev leads Group A due to his impressive start.
The Group A standings after Round 5: 1. Artemiev, 3½; 2. Dubov, 3; 3-4. Nakamura, Carlsen, 2½; 5. Grischuk, 2; 6. Harikrishna, 1½.
The Group B hostilities have started even as we are writing this.
Artemiev, V (2716)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [A33]
chess24.com (1.1) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.e4 Bb4 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3 e5 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 d6 11.Be3 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nd7 13.Qd2 Nc5 14.Bc2 Be6 15.Rfd1 Nb7 16.c5 dxc5 17.Qxd8 Rfxd8 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rb1 Nd6 20.a4 Nc4 21.Bxc5 a5 22.Be7 Rc8 23.Rb7 h6 24.Kf1 c5 25.Ke1 Rc6 26.Rb5 Na3 27.Rb8+ Kh7 28.Bb3 Bxb3 29.Rxb3 Nc4 30.Rb5 Rc7 31.Bxc5 f6 32.Ke2 Rd7 33.Be3 Rc7 34.Kd3 Nxe3 35.fxe3 Rd7+ 36.Kc2 Kg6 37.Rxa5 Kg5 38.g3 h5 39.Rd5 Rc7 40.a5 1-0
Artemiev, V (2716)-Dubov, D (2699) [D02]
chess24.com (2.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.e3 a6 5.b3 c5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Bb2 cxd4 8.exd4 Qa5+ 9.Nbd2 Ba3 10.Qc1 Bxb2 11.Qxb2 dxc4 12.bxc4 0-0 13.0-0 Rb8 14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Bd7 16.d5 exd5 17.cxd5 Ne7 18.Ne5 Rfd8 19.Rfd1 Ng6 20.Nc4 Qc7 21.Rac1 Qf4 22.Qd4 f5 23.Bf3 Qxd4 24.Rxd4 b5 25.Na5 Ne5 26.d6 Rbc8 27.Rc7 Be6 28.Bd5 Bxd5 29.Rxd5 Nf7 30.Nc6 1-0
Dubov, D (2699)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [E15]
chess24.com (3.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxg2 9.Kxg2 Qc8 10.e4 d6 11.Rd1 a6 12.Qe2 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Be7 14.Nf3 0-0 15.Bf4 Qc7 16.Rac1 Rac8 17.b3 h6 18.e5 dxe5 19.Nxe5 Qb7+ 20.Qf3 Qxf3+ 21.Kxf3 Rfd8 22.Nxd7 Nxd7 23.Ke2 Kf8 24.Rd3 Nc5 25.Rxd8+ Bxd8 26.Be3 Be7 27.g4 Ke8 28.f3 Bg5 29.f4 Be7 30.f5 Rc6 31.fxe6 fxe6 32.h3 Bf6 33.b4 Bxc3 34.Rxc3 Ne4 35.Rc1 Kd7 36.a4 e5 37.b5 axb5 38.axb5 Rf6 39.Ra1 Ng3+ 40.Kd3 Rf3 41.Ra7+ Kc8 42.Rxg7 Nf1 43.Ke2 Rxe3+ 44.Kxf1 Rxh3 45.Rg6 Rc3 46.Rxh6 Kd7 47.Rc6 Ke7 48.Ke2 e4 49.g5 Kf7 50.Kd2 Rd3+ 51.Ke2 Rc3 52.Rxb6 Rxc4 53.Ke3 Rb4 54.Rf6+ Kg7 55.b6 Kh7 56.Kf4 Kg7 57.Rc6 Kf7 58.Rc7+ Kg6 59.b7 Kh5 60.Rg7 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Dubov, D (2699) [A46]
chess24.com (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c6 3.h3 d6 4.Bf4 Nbd7 5.e3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 Ne4 9.Qc2 e5 10.Bh2 Ng5 11.Nbd2 Nxf3+ 12.Nxf3 Re8 13.Rfd1 Qe7 14.Rac1 exd4 15.exd4 Bh6 16.Bd3 Bxc1 17.Qxc1 Qf6 18.Bf4 Nf8 19.Bg5 Qh8 20.d5 cxd5 21.cxd5 Nd7 22.Bb5 Qg7 23.Bh6 Qf6 24.Rd4 a6 25.Rf4 Qe7 26.Bxd7 Bxd7 27.Bg5 Rac8 28.Qa1 Qe2 29.b3 Rc2 30.Bh4 Rb2 31.Kh2 Qc2 32.Rc4 Qb1 33.Qxb1 Rxb1 34.Rc7 Bf5 35.Bf6 h6 36.Nd2 Rd1 37.Nc4 Rxd5 38.Rxb7 Be6 39.Ra7 Rd1 40.Nb2 Rd2 41.Kg3 g5 42.Rxa6 Rc8 43.h4 gxh4+ 44.Kf3 Rcc2 45.Na4 Rxf2+ 46.Ke3 Rxf6 0-1
Harikrishna, P (2719)-Grischuk, A (2777) [C53]
chess24.com (5.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.a4 a5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 0-0 10.Nbd2 Nh5 11.h3 Qf6 12.Qe2 Kh8 13.Bh2 Nf4 14.Bxf4 gxf4 15.g4 Bd7 16.0-0-0 Rg8 17.Rdg1 Rg7 18.Rg2 Rag8 19.Rhg1 Ba7 20.Nh2 Nd8 21.h4 Qxh4 22.Ndf3 Qe7 23.g5 Ne6 24.Ng4 hxg5 25.Nh6 Rh7 26.Nxg8 Kxg8 27.Nxg5 f3 28.Qxf3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…g5 2.Qh5#; 1…Bg5 2.Qc4#; 1…Be7 2.Qxg7#; 1…Rg5 2.Qxd7#./PN
