Round 2 of the ongoing Legends of Chess Online Rapid Tournament saw opening round leaders Magnus Carlsen, Peter Svidler and Boris Gelfand notch their second straight wins to remain on top of the leaderboard as action progressed in the Category 20 (average Elo: 2744) event on the chess24.com server.
The trio went through the proverbial wringer, though, in narrowly beating their foes with identical 2½-1½ scores even as no Armageddons were played.
Carlsen converted a drawish fourth game after an error by Viswanathan Anand, Svidler squeezed past Peter Leko and Gelfand nipped a stubborn Vassily Ivanchuk.
In the other Round 2 matches, Ian Nepomniachtchi crushed Liren Ding, 2½-½, who saw it fit not to play the fourth game anymore,while Anish Giri felled Vladimir Kramnik, 2½-1½.
The tournament winner gets $45,000; the runner-up takes $30,000, while all losing semifinalists pocket $17,500 each. Fifth to 10th place prizes are $10000, $8000, $7000, $6000, $5000 and $4000, respectively.
Round 2 standings: 1-3. Carlsen, Gelfand, Svidler, 6; 4. Nepomniachtchi, 5; 5. Giri, 3; 6. Leko, 2; 7-8. Kramnik, Ivanchuk, 1; 9-10. Anand, Ding, 0.
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Ding, L (2791) [C45]
chess24.com (2.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.h4 f6 10.Rh3 fxe5 11.Bg5 Nf6 12.Re3 d6 13.Qf3 e4 14.Qd1 d5 15.Nc3 Bb7 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bb5+ Bc6 20.Rxe4+ Be7 21.Qd5 Rd8 22.Bxc6+ Kf8 23.Qc4 Bd6 24.Rd1 g6 25.Rd3 Kg7 26.Rf3 Qxb2 27.Rf7+ Kh6 28.g4 Qb1+ 29.Ke2 Bb4 30.Rd4 Rhe8+ 31.Kf3 Qh1+ 32.Kg3 Qg1+ 33.Kh3 Re3+ 34.fxe3 Qxe3+ 35.Bf3 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Kramnik, V (2753) [D37]
chess24.com (2.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 dxc4 6.e3 b5 7.Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nd5 9.a3 Nxc3 10.Qd2 Bxa3 11.Qxc3 Bd6 12.Bxd6 cxd6 13.Bxc4 0-0 14.d5 e5 15.0-0 a5 16.Nd2 Bb7 17.b3 Qb6 18.Ra2 Rfc8 19.e4 Rc5 20.Rfa1 Qd8 21.b4 axb4 22.Rxa8 Bxa8 23.Qxb4 h6 24.Ra6 Nf6 25.Bf1 Kh7 26.Ra7 Rc8 27.Rxf7 Rb8 28.Qa3 Rb7 29.Rxb7 Bxb7 30.Nc4 Ne8 31.Qa7 Qc7 32.Na5 Bc8 33.Qxc7 Nxc7 34.Nc4 Ne8 35.Nb6 Bg4 36.f3 Bh5 37.Nc8 1-0
Gelfand, B (2676)-Ivanchuk, V (2678) [A15]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Rb1 0-0 8.h4 c5 9.h5 Nc6 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.Qe2 b6 12.Qe3 Qd6 13.Qg5 Qe6 14.Qh4 Rd8 15.Bb5 Rd6 16.Ng5 Qxa2 17.Rb2 Qa1 18.0-0 Ba6 19.Bxa6 Qxa6 20.f4 Rf6 21.Nh7 Qd3 22.Nxf6+ exf6 23.Re1 Rd8 24.Re3 Qc4 25.Qe1 Qe6 26.d3 Rd7 27.Rf2 Bf8 28.f5 Qd6 29.Rh3 Ne5 30.Bf4 g5 31.Bxe5 Qxe5 32.Rc2 Bd6 33.Qe2 Kf8 34.Rh8+ Ke7 35.Qh5 Qg3 36.Rf2 Bf4 37.Qh6 Kd6 38.Rc8 Rc7 39.Qxf6+ 1-0
Leko, P (2663)-Svidler, P (2723) [C50]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Re1 h6 8.h3 a5 9.Nbd2 a4 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.Nf1 Nb8 12.Bxd7 Nbxd7 13.Ng3 Re8 14.d4 Bb6 15.Bd2 c5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 dxe5 18.c4 Ba5 19.Re2 Bxd2 20.Rxd2 Qa5 21.Nf5 Rad8 22.Ne7+ Kf8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Nd5 Nxe4 25.Qc2 Nf6 26.Nc3 a3 27.bxa3 Qxa3 28.Rb1 Rd7 29.Rb6 Qa5 30.Rb5 Qc7 31.Na4 Qd8 32.Nxc5 Rd1+ 33.Kh2 Ng4+ 34.Kg3 Qg5 35.Nd7+ Kg8 0-1
Anand, V (2753)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.Nc4 Nd7 9.Be3 f6 10.Qe2 Qe7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.Kb1 Kb8 13.Ncd2 Bb6 14.Nc4 Bc5 15.g4 Bf7 16.Nfd2 Nf8 17.f4 Bxe3 18.Qxe3 Ng6 19.fxe5 fxe5 20.Rdf1 Be6 21.Qg3 Rhf8 22.Ne3 Qc5 23.Rxf8 Rxf8 24.Nf5 Bxa2+ 25.Kxa2 Qa5+ 26.Kb1 Qxd2 27.h4 Rf7 28.h5 Nf4 29.g5 a5 30.Ne3 Qb4 31.Nc4 a4 32.g6 hxg6 33.hxg6 Rf6 34.Rh8+ Ka7 35.Qg4 Nxg6 36.Re8 Qe1+ 37.Ka2 Rf1 38.Ka3 c5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh1! Black’s futile options are 1…dxe6 2.Sf7#; 1…dxc6 2.Sxc6#; 1…d6 2.Bxd4#; 1…d5 2.Sg4#; 1…f5 2.Qh8#; 1…dxe3/d3 2.Qa1#; 1…fxe3 2.Rf5#; 1…f3 2.Qh2#./PN
