Hikaru Nakamura finished off a tough and tenacious Daniil Dubov, 2½-1½, to become the first finalist at the ongoing Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour being played at the chess24.com server. World champion Magnus Carlsen, on the other hand, defeated Liren Ding once more to lead their best-of-five semifinal match, 2-1, and needing only one more win to take the last finals seat.
Again, Nakamura proved the more prepared player as he thwarted Dubov’s demonstrations like he did in the previous two sets he won. In the third set, Nakamura confidently faced Dubov and was never in real trouble, taking the third game of the set after two draws and then accepting a draw in the fourth with a winning position for the final count. Meanwhile, Carlsen and Ding drew their first two games before the world champion finished off the Chinese chess ace in Games 3 and 4 from the black and white sides of a Sicilian setting.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Ding, L (2791) [B90]
chess24.com (1.32) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Be7 9.f3 h5 10.Be2 Nbd7 11.Nd5 Bxd5 12.exd5 b6 13.0-0-0 Qc7 14.Kb1 b5 15.Na5 Nb6 16.Bxb6 Qxb6 17.Nc6 Bd8 18.c4 bxc4 19.Bxc4 0-0 20.Rhe1 Nd7 21.g4 hxg4 22.fxg4 Bh4 23.g5 g6 24.Rf1 Kg7 25.Qg2 Rh8 26.Qg4 Qc7 27.Rf3 f5 28.gxf6+ Nxf6 29.Qg2 Qd7 30.Rg1 Rh6 31.a3 Nh5 32.Rb3 Nf4 33.Qc2 Kh8 34.Ka2 Qf5 35.Qd2 Qe4 36.Rc1 Bg5 37.Rcc3 Ne6 38.Qc2 Qxc2 39.Rxc2 Nd4 40.Nxd4 exd4 41.Rb6 Bf4 42.Rxa6 Rxa6 43.Bxa6 Rh3 44.a4 Kg7 45.Rf2 Be3 46.Bf1 Rh5 47.Rg2 Rxd5 48.Bd3 Rg5 49.Rxg5 Bxg5 50.a5 Bd8 51.a6 Bb6 52.Kb3 Kf6 53.Kc4 Ke5 54.Kb5 Ba7 55.Kc6 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B90]
chess24.com (1.33) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.a3 Bb7 9.g4 h6 10.Qd2 Nbd7 11.0-0-0 Rc8 12.Kb1 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Rg1 Bc5 16.f4 Nf6 17.Bd3 Qc7 18.Qe1 Ne4 19.h4 Qb7 20.c3 Bxa3 21.f5 b4 22.c4 Nc3+ 23.Ka1 Bxc4 24.fxe6 0-0 25.Bxc4 Rxc4 26.Rd2 Bxb2+ 27.Kxb2 b3 28.exf7+ Qxf7 29.Nxb3 Rb4 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A29]
Carlsen Tour Final 2020 chess24.com INT (1.33), 11.08.2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Re8 10.Rc1 Bf5 11.d3 Qd7 12.Qc2 Nd4 13.Qd1 Nc6 14.Ne4 f6 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.Rxc5 Bh3 17.Bxh3 Qxh3 18.b4 a6 19.a3 Qe6 20.Nd2 Rad8 21.Ne4 Nd5 22.Rc1 b6 23.Qc2 Nd4 24.Bxd4 exd4 25.Qc4 Qe5 26.Rfe1 Kh8 27.Qxa6 Ra8 28.Qc4 Rxa3 29.f4 Qe6 30.Qxd4 h6 31.b5 Rb3 32.Rc6 Qf7 33.Nc3 Nb4 34.Qc4 Qxc4 35.Rxc4 Nxd3 36.Rd1 Nb2 37.Re4 Rxe4 38.Rd8+ Kh7 39.Nxe4 f5 40.Nd2 Rxb5 41.Rd7 Rc5 42.e4 fxe4 43.Nxe4 Rc6 44.f5 Kg8 45.Kf2 Na4 46.Kf3 Nc5 47.Rd8+ Kf7 48.Nf2 h5 49.g4 Ke7 50.Rg8 Kf7 51.Rc8 hxg4+ 52.Nxg4 Nd7 53.Rd8 Ke7 54.Rg8 Rc3+ 55.Kf2 Kf7 56.Rd8 Nf6 57.Ne5+ Ke7 58.Ra8 Ne4+ 59.Ke2 Kf6 60.Ng4+ Kxf5 61.Ne3+ Kg6 62.Nd5 Rc5 63.Nf4+ Kf5 64.Nd3 Rc2+ 65.Ke3 Nf6 66.h3 Rc4 67.Rc8 Nd5+ 68.Kd2 Rd4 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Dubov, D (2699) [B67]
chess24.com (1.34) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.Kb1 Be7 10.f3 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Qc7 12.h4 b5 13.Qd2 b4 14.Ne2 a5 15.c4 h6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qxd6 Qa7 18.e5 Be7 19.Qd4 Qc7 20.Qf4 0-0 21.Nd4 a4 22.Qe4 f5 23.exf6 Bxf6 24.Bd3 Rfe8 25.g4 Qc5 26.Be2 Rad8 27.g5 hxg5 28.hxg5 Qxg5 29.f4 Qg3 30.Rd3 Qf2 31.Rf1 Qh2 32.Rh1 Qf2 33.Rf1 Qh2 34.Rh1 Qf2 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be4! Black’s futile options are 1…Qxf7/h7/f8 2.Rg3#; 1…Qg8/xg6/h6 2.Qc7#; 1…f5 2.Rc6#; 1…dxe4 2.Qc4#./PN
