Russia and India will clash in the finals of the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad after blasting their respective semifinal opponents on the chess.com server.
Russia narrowly defeated the United States in two semifinal sets, 1½-½, while India had to go through Armageddon to nail down Poland after the two teams tied their semifinal bout, 1-1.
GM Humpy Koneru gave the Indians the victory after beating the veteran GM Monica Socko with the black pieces in Armageddon.
Powerhouse teams China and Armenia were eliminated in the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds respectively.
Ukraine shocked China by winning their preliminary match on Armageddon while Armenia’s dramatic ouster was inflicted by India through the bane of online chess – disconnection during the critical stage of a game. The disconnection of GM Haik Martirosyan in his game against GM Nihal Sarin caused the Armenians to lose the first set of their quarterfinal match. After their appeal that the disconnection was chess.com’s fault was rejected, the outraged Armenians decided to forfeit the second set of their quarterfinal match.
While interesting, the Russia versus India finale has the Russians heavily favored with their dynamite roster.
So, Wesley (2770)-Ivanchuk, V (2678) [C07]
chess.com (2.1) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nb3 cxd4 7.Nbxd4 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 0-0 9.c3 Bd6 10.Bc4 Nb6 11.Bd3 N8d7 12.Qe2 e5 13.Bg5 Be7 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.0-0-0 Nd5 16.Nf5 Qc5 17.Bc2 N7f6 18.Qxe5 Re8 19.Qd4 Qa5 20.Nd6 Rd8 21.Ne4 Bg4 22.Bb3 Rac8 23.Qe5 Nxe4 24.Rxd5 Nc5 25.Rhd1 Re8 26.Qd4 Be6 27.Rg5 1-0
Korobov, A (2688)-So, Wesley (2770) [D05]
chess.com (2.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 b6 6.0-0 Bb7 7.Bb2 Be7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Ne5 Nbd7 10.Qe2 Rc8 11.Rad1 Qc7 12.f4 g6 13.Ndf3 cxd4 14.exd4 Ne4 15.Nxd7 Qxd7 16.Ne5 Qc7 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.c4 Rfd8 19.a4 a6 20.Qe1 b5 21.Bc3 Qd6 22.axb5 axb5 23.c5 Qd5 24.Ng4 f5 25.Ne3 Qxb3 26.Rf2 Ra8 27.Rb2 Qa4 28.g4 fxg4 29.Rb4 Qa6 30.Nxg4 Qc6 31.Qe3 Bxc5 32.Rbb1 Be7 33.Bb4 Bxb4 34.Rxb4 Ra2 35.Rc1 Rc2 36.Rbb1 Rc8 37.Rxc2 Qxc2 38.Qb3 Qxb3 39.Rxb3 Rc1+ 40.Kf2 Rc2+ 41.Kg3 Bc6 42.Ne5 Be8 43.Ra3 Rd2 44.Ra7 Rxd4 45.Ng4 Kf8 46.Nf6 Bc6 47.Nxh7+ Ke8 48.Ng5 Bd5 49.Nf7 b4 50.Nd6+ Kd8 51.Nf7+ Kc8 52.Nd6+ Kb8 53.Ra5 b3 54.Rb5+ Kc7 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Grischuk, A (2777) [C53]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.h3 Ba7 9.Bb3 h6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bc2 Re8 12.Nf1 d5 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Ng3 Qd6 15.Nf5 Qd7 16.N3h4 Ne7 17.Rxe5 Nxf5 18.Rxf5 Qe6 19.d4 Qe1+ 20.Kh2 c5 21.Bxh6 Bb8+ 22.Bf4 Qxd1 23.Rxd1 Be6 24.Rxf6 gxf6 25.Bxb8 Raxb8 26.d5 Bd7 27.Rd2 b5 28.Bf5 Rbd8 29.Bxd7 Rxd7 30.Nf5 Kh7 31.g4 Re4 32.Kg3 b4 33.d6 bxc3 34.bxc3 Rc4 35.Rd3 Ra4 36.Re3 Rd8 37.Re7 Rc4 38.Rxf7+ Kg8 39.Rxf6 Rxc3+ 40.Kh4 c4 41.g5 Rd3 42.g6 Rf8 43.Kg5 c3 44.Ne7+ Kg7 45.Nf5+ Kg8 46.Rxf8+ Kxf8 47.Kf6 Rxd6+ 48.Nxd6 c2 49.g7+ Kg8 50.Nf5 c1Q 51.Ne7+ 1-0
Duda, J-K (2753)-Anand, V (2753) [E48]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qc7 10.Be2 b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Ne5 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14.f3 Rfd8 15.Bb2 Nd5 16.Qd2 b5 17.e4 Nb6 18.Rfd1 Na4 19.Rab1 a6 20.Ba1 c4 21.Qf4 f5 22.exf5 Rf8 23.Re1 Nb6 24.Bd1 Nd5 25.Qd2 exf5 26.Bc2 Qd6 27.Bb2 Bc6 28.Re5 f4 29.Rbe1 Ne3 30.Bc1 Rae8 31.Qf2 Nd5 32.Bb2 Rxe5 33.dxe5 Qe6 34.Bc1 Be8 35.Be4 Nxc3 36.Bxh7+ Kxh7 37.Qc2+ Bg6 38.Qxc3 Bd3 39.Qd4 g5 40.Bd2 g4 41.fxg4 f3 42.gxf3 Rxf3 43.Be3 Qf7 44.Qa7 Kg6 45.Qxa6+ Kh7 46.Qa7 Kg8 47.Qxf7+ Kxf7 48.Bc5 Ke6 49.Kg2 Rf7 50.Bb4 Rc7 51.h4 c3 52.h5 c2 53.Bd2 Rd7 54.Bc1 Bh7 55.g5 Rd1 56.g6 Bxg6 57.Kf2 Bxh5 58.Bb2 Bg4 59.Rg1 Bf5 60.Re1 Kd5 61.e6 Bxe6 62.Re5+ Kd6 63.Re1 Bc4 64.Rg1 Kc5 65.Rg5+ Bd5 66.Rg1 Kc4 67.Rg4+ Kb3 68.Rb4+ Ka2 69.Ke3 Bb3 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Shankland, S (2691) [B40]
chess.com (3.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.a4 Nc6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.0-0 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 e5 11.Qd3 Be6 12.Bg5 Nd7 13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14.Rfd1 Nf6 15.a5 b5 16.axb6 Qxb6 17.b3 Rhc8 18.Rd2 Rc6 19.Nd1 Rac8 20.Ne3 a5 21.c4 g6 22.Ra3 Rb8 23.Rda2 Nd7 24.Qd1 Nc5 25.h4 h5 26.Kh2 Kf8 27.Qf3 Qd8 28.Nf1 a4 29.bxa4 Bxc4 30.Rc2 Be6 31.Qe3 Ra6 32.Rd2 Qf6 33.a5 Rb3 34.Rxb3 Nxb3 35.Rb2 Nxa5 36.Qh6+ Ke7 37.Rb8 Kd7 38.Qf8 Kc7 39.Ne3 Nc6 40.Nd5+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf6! Black’s futile options are: 1…Bg7 2.Qxd6#; 1…Re6 2.Qxe6#; 1…Rxf6 2.Sxf6#; 1…Sxd7/f7/g6/d3/f3 2.Se3#; 1…Sxc4 2.Sc3#./PN
