World chess champion Magnus Carlsen struck back in the second set of his best-of-five semifinal matches against Liren Ding, winning 2½-½, to level the score in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour on the chess24.com server.
The other semifinal match saw Hikaru Nakamura crush Daniil Dubov, 3-1, to move to within a set of claiming the first finals seat.
Carlsen had very little problem disposing Ding, beating the Chinese GM in the first two games before easily drawing the third to wrap up the set.
Ding defeated the world champion in the first set by drawing their Armageddon tiebreaker with the black pieces.
On the other hand, Nakamura was never in any trouble against Dubov. The American chess ace pressed his Russian opponent who escaped with draws in Games 1 and 2 before opening up with both barrels and winning Games 3 and 4.
While the Carlsen versus Ding match could go the full distance, Nakamura only needs to win the third set of his match against Dubov to become the first finalist of the lucrative tour.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Ding, L (2791) [D41]
chess24.com (1.21) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Bb5 dxe4 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Ng5 Be6 11.Bf4 Bb4 12.0-0-0+ Ke7 13.a3 Bxc3 14.Bd6+ Ke8 15.bxc3 h6 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Bxc6+ bxc6 18.Rd4 Kf7 19.Rhd1 Rhd8 20.c4 a5 21.Bc5 Rdb8 22.Kc2 Rb7 23.Rb1 Rab8 24.Rxb7+ Rxb7 25.Rd6 Nd7 26.Rxc6 Ne5 27.Ra6 Nxc4 28.Kc3 Nb2 29.Rxa5 Nd3 30.Bd4 Rc7+ 31.Kd2 Rc4 32.Ra7+ Kg6 33.Rxg7+ Kf5 34.Be3 Nc5 35.g4+ Ke5 36.Ra7 Nb3+ 37.Kd1 Rc3 38.Bxh6 Rd3+ 39.Kc2 Nd4+ 40.Kb2 Kd5 41.Be3 e5 42.h4 Rb3+ 43.Ka2 Rc3 44.h5 Rc2+ 45.Kb1 Re2 46.Rc7 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C50]
chess24.com (1.22) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.Re1 h6 8.a4 0-0 9.Nbd2 Re8 10.h3 Be6 11.Bxe6 Rxe6 12.b4 Ba7 13.Bb2 Ne7 14.c4 a5 15.bxa5 Nc6 16.Bc3 Nd7 17.Rb1 Nc5 18.Nf1 Rg6 19.Ne3 Ne6 20.Nd5 Rb8 21.Rb2 Ng5 22.Nxg5 Qxg5 23.Qf3 Bd4 24.Reb1 Bxc3 25.Nxc3 Nxa5 26.Nd5 Nc6 27.Ne3 b6 28.Nf5 Ra8 29.h4 Qf4 30.Qxf4 exf4 31.d4 Rxa4 32.d5 Ne5 33.Ne7+ Kh7 34.Nxg6 Kxg6 35.c5 bxc5 36.Rb8 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Dubov, D (2699) [B33]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Rb8 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ncb4 Nxb4 15.cxb4 Bd7 16.Bxa6 0-0 17.b3 axb3 18.Qxb3 Kh8 19.0-0 Qe8 20.Be2 f5 21.exf5 Bxf5 22.b5 Be6 23.Ra6 Qf7 24.Bc4 Rfd8 25.Rd1 e4 26.b6 Rf8 27.Ra2 Bd8 28.Rb2 Qh5 29.Qc2 Bf5 30.Qd2 Be6 31.Ne3 Bxc4 32.Nxc4 Bf6 33.Rbb1 Rfd8 34.b7 d5 35.Na5 Be5 36.g3 Qg6 37.Qc2 Rd6 38.Rdc1 Bf4 39.Qc8+ Rd8 40.Qxd8+ Rxd8 41.Rc8 Qe8 42.Rxd8 Qxd8 43.gxf4 1-0
Dubov, D (2699)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C26]
chess24.com (1.24) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd3 Bc5 6.Bf4 d6 7.0-0-0 Bxf2 8.Nf3 Bb6 9.Be2 h6 10.h3 Be6 11.Rhe1 Qd7 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.Qb3 a6 15.g4 0-0-0 16.Bc4 Ng6 17.Bd2 Rde8 18.Bd3 Kb8 19.a4 Ka8 20.a5 Bf2 21.Rf1 Be3 22.Bxg6 Bxd2+ 23.Rxd2 fxg6 24.Nd4 h5 25.g5 Ne4 26.Ne6 Nxd2 27.Kxd2 Re7 28.Rf3 c6 29.Nf8 Qe8 30.Ne6 cxd5 31.Nd4 Re4 32.Qb6 Rf8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng7! Black’s futile options are 1…Bd4 2.Qe1#; 1…Bf6 2.Qxf6#; 1…Bxg7 2.Qxg7#; 1…Kd4 2.Rb5#./PN
