Hikaru Nakamura continues to show better preparation and defeated world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, 3½-2½, in the third set of their best-of-seven finals match to forge ahead 2-1 in their ongoing Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour championship clash being played at the chess24.com server.
Nakamura’s impressive level of opening preparation has enabled him to play faster and often leave Carlsen scrambling in time trouble. In the third set, Carlsen won the first game of the third set after a crucial error by Nakamura, but the latter struck back in a nice game in the third game. After getting tied in regulation at 2-2, the American chess ace whipped up a storm to win the first blitz tiebreaker and then went for complications in the second blitz tiebreaker that led Carlsen to time trouble and throwing away what appeared a decisive advantage. The second blitz tiebreaker ended in a draw and Nakamura wrapped up the set.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (2.31) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.Nc4 Nd7 8.0-0 f6 9.a4 a5 10.Be3 b6 11.h4 Qe8 12.g3 Be7 13.Ne1 Nc5 14.Ng2 Be6 15.b3 Qd7 16.Qe2 Rae8 17.f3 Bxc4 18.dxc4 Qh3 19.Kf2 Qe6 20.Kg1 f5 21.exf5 Qxf5 22.Rad1 Qh3 23.Bf2 Bd6 24.Rfe1 Re7 25.Qe3 Ref7 26.f4 exf4 27.gxf4 Qg4 28.Qe2 Rxf4 29.Qxg4 Rxg4 30.Rd4 Rg6 31.h5 Rh6 32.Rh4 Rf5 33.Be3 Rhxh5 34.Rxh5 Rxh5 35.Bf4 Bxf4 36.Nxf4 Rf5 37.Ne6 Nxe6 38.Rxe6 c5 39.Re7 h5 40.Rxc7 Kh7 41.Kg2 Kh6 42.c3 Rf6 43.Rc8 Kg5 44.Rd8 Kg4 45.b4 h4 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C67]
chess24.com (2.32) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nf5 8.c3 Nxe5 9.Rxe5 d6 10.Re1 d5 11.d4 0-0 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Qf3 Nh4 14.Qg3 Nf5 15.Qf3 Nh4 16.Qg3 Nf5 17.Qf3 ½-½
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (2.33) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.Qe2 Re8 8.Nc4 Nd7 9.h4 a5 10.h5 b5 11.Ne3 Nf8 12.Bd2 Ne6 13.a4 b4 14.b3 Ba6 15.g3 Bxe3 16.Bxe3 f5 17.Rh4 f4 18.Bd2 Nd4 19.Nxd4 Qxd4 20.Rc1 fxg3 21.fxg3 Qg1+ 22.Qf1 Qxg3+ 23.Qf2 Qxf2+ 24.Kxf2 Re6 25.Rg1 Rf8+ 26.Ke1 Bc8 27.h6 g6 28.Bg5 Ree8 29.Rh2 Rf3 30.Rf2 Rxf2 31.Kxf2 Rf8+ 32.Ke3 Kf7 33.Rf1+ Ke8 34.Rxf8+ Kxf8 35.Bd8 c5 36.Bxc7 Ke7 37.Bxe5 Kd7 38.Bf6 Bb7 39.Kf4 Bc6 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D02]
chess24.com (2.34) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Qb6 5.Nc3 Bd7 6.Rb1 e6 7.a3 Nc6 8.Be2 Nh5 9.Be5 cxd4 10.Bxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Qxd4 12.exd4 Nf4 13.Bf1 Bd6 14.h4 h5 15.g3 Ng6 16.Bb5 Rc8 17.Kd2 a6 18.Bxd7+ Kxd7 19.Nd1 f6 20.Ne3 Ne7 21.c3 Rc6 22.Ne1 Nc8 23.Nd3 Nb6 24.b4 Rb8 25.Nc5+ Ke7 26.a4 Bxc5 27.bxc5 Nxa4 28.Rb3 b5 29.Ra1 Rd8 30.Nc2 e5 31.f4 Kf7 32.Rf1 exf4 33.gxf4 f5 34.Nb4 Rg6 35.Rf2 Ra8 36.Rb1 Rg3 37.Nd3 Re8 38.Ne5+ Kg8 39.Rc1 a5 40.Re2 b4 41.cxb4 axb4 42.Re3 Rg2+ 43.Re2 Rg3 44.Re3 Rg2+ 45.Re2 Rg3 ½-½
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (2.35) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.Qe2 Re8 8.Nc4 Nd7 9.Bd2 b5 10.Ne3 Nf8 11.h4 Ne6 12.Nxe5 a5 13.Qh5 g6 14.Qf3 f6 15.Nxc6 Qd7 16.Qxf6 Qxc6 17.Bc3 Rf8 18.Qh8+ Kf7 19.Qxh7+ Ke8 20.Qxg6+ Kd7 21.d4 b4 22.dxc5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa3! Black’s futile options are 1…Bd6 2.Qc3#; 1…Rf4+ 2.Sd4#; 1…Sxe6 2.Qg3#; 1…Se4 2.Sf3#./PN
