The quarterfinal knockout cast of the ongoing Chessable Masters Tournament at the chess24.com server is now complete with the last four qualifiers emerging after the final half of the Group B competition.
Group B was topped by Anish Giri, who qualified along with Liren Ding, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana. The quartet will be joining Magnus Carlsen, Vladislav Artemiev, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Grischuk in a knockout quarterfinals. Vachier-Lagrave who led the opening half of the event with Giri, was unrecognizable in the second half, losing four of his five games, Caruana, on the other hand, barely qualified after a terrific second half performance of Radjabov.
The quarterfinal matches will be Carlsen vs Caruana, Artemiev vs Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura vs Ding and Giri vs Grischuk. The Group B final standings after Round 5: 1. Giri, 6; 2-3. Ding, Nepomniachtchi, 5½; 4. Caruana, 5; 5. Radjabov, 4½; 6. Vachier-Lagrave, 3½.
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Radjabov, T (2765) [A15]
chess24.com (7.2) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.d4 d5 6.Qb3 0-0 7.Bg2 Qb6 8.0-0 Rd8 9.Bd2 dxc4 10.Qxc4 Be6 11.Qa4 Na6 12.e4 Bg4 13.Be3 Qxb2 14.Rfc1 Qb4 15.Qxb4 Nxb4 16.Rab1 c5 17.dxc5 Nd3 18.Rd1 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Ne5 20.Be2 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Nc6 22.Rb1 Rb8 23.Bb5 Nd7 24.Nd5 e6 25.Nb4 Nde5 26.Ba4 Na5 27.Rd1 Nac4 28.Bc1 Bf8 29.c6 Kg7 30.Nd3 Nxc6 31.Bb5 N6a5 32.Nb2 Nb6 33.Bd2 Nc6 34.Bc3+ Kg8 35.Na4 Nxa4 36.Bxa4 b5 37.Bc2 Bg7 38.Bd2 Nd4 39.Bd3 Nf3+ 40.Kg2 Nxd2 41.Rxd2 a5 42.Rc2 a4 43.Rc5 b4 44.Ra5 Rd8 45.Ba6 b3 46.axb3 axb3 47.Rb5 b2 48.Rb3 Bc3 49.Be2 Rd2 50.Kf1 Bd4 51.f4 Rc2 52.Bd3 Rxh2 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Caruana, F (2835) [C78]
chess24.com (7.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 0-0 7.d4 Bb6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 d6 10.h3 g5 11.Nxg5 hxg5 12.Bxg5 Kh7 13.Bxc6 Rg8 14.f4 bxc6 15.Qe1 Rxg5 16.fxg5 Ng8 17.Rxf7+ Kg6 18.Rf3 exd4 19.Kh1 Qe7 20.Nd2 dxc3 21.bxc3 Be6 22.Qh4 Qh7 23.Qg3 Qh5 24.Qf4 Kg7 25.Raf1 Re8 26.Qg3 Ne7 27.Rf6 Ng6 28.Nf3 Bc4 29.Re1 Bxa2 30.Nd4 Bxd4 31.cxd4 Bg8 32.e5 Bd5 33.Kh2 a5 34.Re3 dxe5 35.dxe5 Qd1 36.e6 Re7 37.Qf2 Nh8 38.Rh6 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [E60]
chess24.com (8.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 c5 6.d5 e6 7.Nc3 exd5 8.cxd5 d6 9.Nd2 Na6 10.0-0 Nc7 11.e4 Rb8 12.a4 Re8 13.f3 a6 14.a5 Bd7 15.Nc4 Nb5 16.Bg5 Qc7 17.Bf4 Rbd8 18.g4 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Bb5 20.Ne3 Nxe4 21.fxe4 Bxc3 22.Rc1 Qxa5 23.Bxb5 axb5 24.Qf3 Bd4 25.Kh1 Qa4 26.Bxd6 f5 27.Bxc5 Bxc5 28.Rxc5 Qd4 29.Rxb5 Qxe4 30.Rb3 f4 31.Qxe4 Rxe4 32.Nd1 Rd7 33.Rd3 g5 34.Nc3 Re5 35.Rb1 Kg7 36.Kg2 h5 37.h3 hxg4 38.hxg4 Rde7 39.d6 Rd7 40.Rb5 Kf6 41.Rxe5 Kxe5 42.Rd5+ Ke6 43.Rxg5 Rxd6 44.Rg6+ Ke5 45.Rxd6 Kxd6 46.Kf3 Ke5 47.Nb5 b6 48.Na7 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [D10]
chess24.com (8.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bg5 Nc6 5.Nc3 f6 6.Bd2 e5 7.e4 dxe4 8.dxe5 fxe5 9.Bc4 Nf6 10.Nge2 Bc5 11.0-0 Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.Rc1 Qd7 14.Bg5 Nd4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nxe4 Be7 17.N4g3 Nxe2+ 18.Bxe2 Qxd1 19.Bxd1 Bxd1 20.Rfxd1 Rd8 21.Nf5 Rxd1+ 22.Rxd1 Bf8 23.g3 h5 24.Kg2 Rh7 25.Rc1 Kd7 26.Kf3 Ke6 27.g4 hxg4+ 28.hxg4 Rd7 29.Rc8 Kf7 30.Ke2 b6 31.f3 Bc5 32.Ng3 Be7 33.Ne4 Ke6 34.Rc6+ Kf7 35.b3 Kg7 36.a3 Kf7 37.b4 Rd4 38.Rc7 a5 39.Ng3 Ke8 40.Rxe7+ Kxe7 41.Nf5+ Ke6 42.Nxd4+ exd4 43.f4 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [A40]
chess24.com (9.1) 2020
1.d4 Nc6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d5 Nb8 4.c4 e6 5.g3 Bc5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Nc3 exd5 8.cxd5 d6 9.0-0 Re8 10.b3 Bg4 11.Bb2 Nbd7 12.Nd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Bxe2 14.Rfe1 Bh5 15.h3 Bg6 16.g4 Rxe1+ 17.Rxe1 Ne5 18.Re3 c5 19.dxc6 Nxc6 20.Qd2 h5 21.g5 Nh7 22.h4 Nf8 23.Nd5 Ne6 24.Bh3 Ne5 25.f4 Ng4 26.Bxg4 hxg4 27.Qc3 Qf8 28.Re2 g3 29.Qxg3 Rc8 30.h5 Rc2 31.Rxc2 Bxc2 32.h6 Qd8 33.hxg7 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [E48]
chess24.com (10.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nf3 b6 8.0-0 c5 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Rc1 Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.a3 Ba5 14.g4 Bg6 15.Bxg6 hxg6 16.b4 cxb4 17.Ne2 Rc8 18.axb4 Bb6 19.b5 Na5 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Bxa5 Bxa5 22.Nf4 Rd8 23.Nd4 Bb6 24.Nc6 Rd7 25.Qf3 g5 26.Nd3 Qe8 27.Rd1 Ne4 28.Ndb4 Nc3 29.Rd3 d4 30.exd4 Qe1+ 31.Kg2 Ne2 32.Qe4 Nf4+ 33.Kf3 Qh1+ 34.Ke3 Qc1+ 35.Kf3 Rd6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh5!. Black’s futile options are 1…Be5 2.Bxc6#; 1…exf5/e5 2.fxg8=Q#; 1…Bxf5 2.Bxc4#./PN
