World chess champion Magnus Carlsen narrowly defeated semifinal foe Liren Ding in the fourth of their best-of-five series of matches to arrange a championship showdown with early finals qualifier Hikaru Nakamura in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour on the chess24.com server.
Eliminating Ding proved difficult for Carlsen as the Chinese chess ace held his own and came so close to extending their semifinal tiff to a fifth and deciding set.
Luck, however, was on the Norwegian’s side as he came back from inferior and disadvantageous positions in regulation and then managed to bring the set to a blitz tiebreak where, regaining confidence, he went on to win.
After trading wins in regulation rapid Games 1 and 2, Carlsen found himself a pawn down but got the draw in mutual time trouble. He got into a lost position in Game 4 and for awhile it looked like Ding would extend the match.
But as luck would have it, the world champion somehow got the draw in another time scramble to bring the set into a tiebreaker.
The two drew their first blitz game, and a more confident Carlsen prevailed in the second to wrap up the semifinal match via a final 3-1 tally.
Carlsen, M (2863) – Ding, L (2791) [D43]
chess24.com (1.41) 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 b4 10.Na4 Nxe4 11.Be5 Nf6 12.Nc5 c3 13.bxc3 bxc3 14.0-0 Nbd7 15.Nxd7 Bxd7 16.Qb3 Bg7 17.Qa3 g4 18.Ne1 c5 19.dxc5 0-0 20.Bxc3 h5 21.Rd1 Nd5 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Bc4 Bc6 24.Nc2 Qf6 25.Nd4 Ne7 26.f3 g3 27.hxg3 Rfd8 28.Nxc6 Nxc6 29.Qe3 Nd4 30.g4 Rac8 31.g5 Qf5 32.Rxd4 Qxc5 33.Bxe6 Rc6 34.Re4 Qxe3+ 35.Rxe3 Rxe6 36.Rxe6 fxe6 37.Re1 Rd6 38.Kh2 Kg6 39.f4 Kf5 40.Kg3 h4+ 41.Kxh4 Kxf4 42.g6 Rd8 43.Rf1+ Ke3 44.Kg5 e5 45.g7 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E62]
chess24.com (1.42) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.e4 b6 10.Rb1 a5 11.Re1 Nd7 12.a3 h6 13.Nh4 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Qc2 Nf6 16.b4 Bd7 17.c5 axb4 18.axb4 e4 19.c6 Be8 20.f3 Nfxd5 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.fxe4 fxe4 23.Bxe4 Nc3 24.Bxh6 Qf6 25.Bh7+ Kh8 26.Rxe8 Rfxe8 27.Ng6+ Kxh7 28.Nf8+ Kxh6 29.Qh7+ Kg5 30.Qh4+ Kf5 31.Qf4# 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E60]
chess24.com (1.44) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.Nc3 Qxc5 6.Be3 Qa5 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Bd2 0-0 9.Rc1 d6 10.Nh3 Nc6 11.Nf4 Bd7 12.0-0 Rfc8 13.b3 Qd8 14.Ncd5 Nxd5 15.Nxd5 Ne5 16.Bg5 Nc6 17.Qd2 Be6 18.Rfd1 Qf8 19.b4 h6 20.Be3 Kh7 21.b5 Ne5 22.c5 dxc5 23.Bxc5 Qe8 24.Qb4 Bxd5 25.Bxd5 Rc7 26.Rb1 e6 27.Bg2 Bf8 28.Bxf8 Qxf8 29.Qf4 Qg7 30.Rbc1 Re7 31.Rc5 f6 32.Qc1 Rae8 33.h3 b6 34.Rc8 Qf8 35.Rxe8 Qxe8 36.f4 Nf7 37.Qc6 Qxc6 38.bxc6 Kg7 39.Kf2 Kf8 40.Ke3 Rc7 41.Kd4 Nd8 42.Rc1 Ke7 43.Ke3 Kd6 44.Rd1+ Ke7 45.Rc1 Kd6 46.Rd1+ Ke7 47.Rc1 ½-½
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E01]
chess24.com (1.46) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Rc1 Nfd7 12.Nd3 Nc6 13.e3 Rc8 14.Nc3 Na5 15.Qd1 Nc4 16.Be1 Nd6 17.a4 a5 18.Nb5 Rxc1 19.Rxc1 Qb8 20.b4 Nc4 21.bxa5 bxa5 22.e4 Ndb6 23.exd5 Bxd5 24.Bxd5 exd5 25.Ne5 Qb7 26.Bxa5 Bg5 27.Bxb6 Bxc1 28.Bc5 Ra8 29.Nxc4 dxc4 30.Qxc1 Rxa4 31.Nc3 Ra5 32.h4 Qa8 33.Qb2 Ra1+ 34.Nb1 c3 35.Qb3 h6 36.d5 Qc8 37.Kg2 Qxc5 38.Nxc3 Ra8 39.Ne2 Rd8 40.Nf4 Qd4 41.h5 Qe5 42.Qb6 Rb8 43.Qc5 Qe4+ 44.Kh3 Rb1 45.Kg4 f5+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nh1! Black’s futile options are 1…Qxa6 2.Rxa6#; 1…Qd6 2.Qxd6#; 1…Qe6 2.Qxe6#; 1…d4 2.Qf1#; 1…Ba2/a4/c4 2.Rf3#./PN
