World champion Magnus Carlsen seized the solo leadership of the ongoing Legends of Chess Online Rapid Tournament being conducted at the chess24.com server after beating Liren Ding, 2½-1½, in Round 6 action Sunday.
The standings have not changed much, with Ian Nepomniachtchi just a convenient whisker away from Carlsen after winning on Armageddon against a luckless Viswanathan Anand, 3-2. Their latest losses kept Ding and Anand comforting each other at the bottom of the standings. Two other Round 6 matches ended in Armageddon with Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler prevailing via similar 3-2 scores against Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk, respectively. Meanwhile, Anish Giri rallied to defeat Peter Leko, 2½-1½. The wins enabled Kramnik to take solo 3rd spot and enabled Giri to catch up with Svidler.
The standings after Round 6: 1. Carlsen, 17; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 16; 3. Kramnik, 12; 4-5. Svidler, Giri 11; 6. Gelfand, 7; 7. Ivanchuk, 6; 8. Leko. 4; 9-10. Anand, Ding, 3.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Ding, L (2791) [D43]
chess24.com (6.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Nd2 Qb6 12.a4 a6 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nde4 c5 15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.Nc3 cxd4 17.Nxd5 exd5 18.Bh5 Nc5 19.Qxd4 Qe6 20.Bg4 Nb3 21.Qd1 Qc6 22.axb5 Qxb5 23.e6 fxe6 24.Bxe6 Ra7 25.Bxd5 Nxa1 26.Qf3 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Leko, P (2663) [A05]
chess24.com (6.4) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0-0 e5 5.e4 d6 6.c3 Nxe4 7.d4 f5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nbd2 Nxd2 10.Nxd2 Be6 11.Re1 Qd7 12.Qa4 Bd5 13.Bxd5 Qxd5 14.Nc4 0-0-0 15.Bg5 Rd7 16.Rad1 Qe6 17.Nxe5 Rxd1 18.Qxd1 Ne7 19.Nd3 Qd6 20.Qe2 Ng6 21.Qe8+ Kc7 22.Nf4 Qd7 23.Nxg6 Qxe8 24.Rxe8 hxg6 25.Be7 Bxe7 26.Rxh8 c4 27.Kf1 b5 28.Ke2 a5 29.Re8 Bf6 30.Re6 Kb7 31.Kd2 a4 32.a3 Kc7 33.h4 Kb7 34.Ke3 Kc7 35.f3 b4 36.Rxf6 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Anand, V (2753) [C24]
chess24.com (6.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nc3 d6 5.f4 Nc6 6.Nf3 Ng4 7.Ng5 Bf2+ 8.Kf1 exf4 9.Bxf7+ Kf8 10.Ne6+ Bxe6 11.Bxe6 Ne3+ 12.Bxe3 Bxe3 13.Qh5 Ne5 14.Nd5 c6 15.Nxe3 Qf6 16.Ke2 Qxe6 17.Rhf1 Qf6 18.Rxf4 Qxf4 19.Rf1 Qxf1+ 20.Kxf1 Re8 21.Kg1 Nf7 22.Qg4 g6 23.Nc4 Re7 24.Qf4 Re6 25.Na5 Kg7 26.Nxb7 Rb8 27.Nc5 Re7 28.Nb3 Ne5 29.h3 c5 30.Qd2 Rf8 31.d4 cxd4 32.Qxd4 Rf6 33.Nd2 g5 34.Nf1 1-0
Gelfand, B (2676)-Kramnik, V (2753) [E17]
chess24.com (6.3) 2020
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 Qc8 8.Nc3 Bb4 9.Bd2 d6 10.d5 Nbd7 11.e4 Nc5 12.Qc2 exd5 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.cxd5 Bxd2 15.Nxd2 a5 16.Nf3 Re8 17.e5 dxe5 18.Nxe5 Qd8 19.d6 cxd6 20.Bxa8 dxe5 21.Bc6 Re7 22.Rad1 Qc7 23.Bg2 g6 24.Qd2 Kg7 25.Qd8 e4 26.Qxc7 Rxc7 27.f3 Nd3 28.Re2 exf3 29.Bxf3 Nc1 30.Re5 Nxa2 31.Rb5 Nd7 32.Rbd5 Nc5 33.Rd6 Nb4 34.Rxb6 Ncd3 35.Rd2 Rc1+ 36.Kg2 Ne1+ 37.Kf2 Ned3+ 38.Ke3 Re1+ 39.Kd4 Ne5 40.Be2 f6 41.Rb7+ Kh6 42.Kc5 Rh1 43.Bb5 Rc1+ 44.Kb6 a4 45.Ka5 Nbc6+ 46.Kb6 Rb1 47.Kc5 Na5 48.Ra7 Nb3+ 49.Kb4 Nxd2 0-1
Svidler, P (2723)-Ivanchuk, V(2678) [A13]
chess24.com (6.2) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3 Bd6 5.Bb2 0-0 6.Nc3 c6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Re8 9.Rc1 dxc4 10.bxc4 e5 11.d4 exd4 12.exd4 Nf8 13.Qc2 Bg4 14.h3 Bh5 15.Rcd1 Qa5 16.d5 Rad8 17.Nd4 Bxe2 18.Ncxe2 cxd5 19.Nb3 Qxa2 20.Nec1 Qa6 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.cxd5 Ng6 23.Nd4 Re5 24.Nf3 Rh5 25.Ne2 Qa5 26.Qe4 Qc7 27.g3 Qd7 28.h4 Re8 29.Qc4 f5 30.Rfe1 f4 31.Nc3 Rxe1+ 32.Rxe1 fxg3 33.Ne4 gxf2+ 34.Kxf2 Rf5 35.Nxd6 Rxf3+ 36.Kxf3 Qxd6 37.Re8+ Kg7 38.Qd4+ Kh6 39.Rg8 f6 40.Re8 Ne5+ 41.Kg2 Qa3 42.Qf4+ Kg6 43.Qg3+ Qxg3+ 44.Kxg3 Nf7 45.Kf4 Nd6 46.Re6 Nc4 47.d6 Nb6 48.h5+ Kxh5 49.Kf5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd7! Black’s futile options are 1…Kf5 2.Bg4#; 1…Sf4 2.Rxe5#; 1…e4 2.Qc4#; 1…Se4/xf3 2.Qh3#./PN
