Vladislav Artemiev narrowly eliminated Anish Giri, 15½-11½, to advance and complete the next round cast of the ongoing 2020 Speed Chess Championship being conducted on the chess.com playing server.
All told, the two played a total of 27 games of which 16 were decisive and 11 were drawn. The 22-year old Artemiev led the first half of the match and subsequently held off a determined Giri in the lower half. The Russian grandmaster would score ten wins and his Dutch foe six.
Artemiev will thus be joining early qualifiers Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Fedoseev, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the Round of 8 where the pairings will be Nakamura vs Fedoseev, Wesley vs Duda, Carlsen vs Artemiev, and Vachier-Lagrave vs Aronian. We’ve yet to see the playing sked for Round 2, however.
Artemiev, V (2708)-Giri, A (2764) [D11]
chess.com (1.11) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 g6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 Bf5 10.Qb3 Na5 11.Qb4 a6 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Rfc1 b5 14.Ne5 Nc6 15.Nxc6 Rxc6 16.a4 bxa4 17.Nxa4 a5 18.Qb7 Rxc1+ 19.Rxc1 Ne4 20.Bc7 Qa8 21.Qxa8 Rxa8 22.Nb6 Ra7 23.Nxd5 Bf8 24.f3 Nd2 25.Nb6 Rb7 26.g4 Bb1 27.Rc6 Ra7 28.Bf4 f6 29.e4 Nxe4 30.fxe4 Bxe4 31.Rc8 Rb7 32.Bh6 1-0
Artemiev, V (2708)-Giri, A (2764) [B26]
chess.com (1.13) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Be3 e6 7.Qd2 Rb8 8.Nge2 Nd4 9.0-0 b5 10.Nd1 Nxe2+ 11.Qxe2 Ne7 12.Qd2 0-0 13.Bh6 b4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Ne3 a5 16.f4 f5 17.Rae1 Bb7 18.exf5 exf5 19.Nc4 Bxg2 20.Qxg2 d5 21.Nxa5 Ra8 22.Nb3 Qd6 23.d4 c4 24.Nc5 Rf6 25.Re5 Rxa2 26.Rfe1 Ra7 27.h3 c3 28.bxc3 bxc3 29.Kh2 h6 30.R1e3 Kf7 31.Rxc3 Qb6 32.Rce3 Qc6 33.Qe2 Ng8 34.Re8 Kg7 35.R3e6 Rxe6 36.Nxe6+ Kh7 37.Nf8+ Kg7 38.Qe5+ Kf7 39.Nxg6 Qxc2+ 40.Qe2 Qxe2+ 41.Rxe2 Kxg6 42.g4 Nf6 43.Kg3 Ra3+ 44.Kh4 Rd3 45.Re6 Rxd4 46.Kg3 Kf7 47.Ra6 Ne4+ 48.Kh4 Nf6 49.Kg3 Re4 50.Ra7+ Re7 51.Ra6 d4 52.g5 Ne4+ 53.Kh4 hxg5+ 54.fxg5 Re6 55.Ra7+ Kg6 56.Rd7 Rd6 0-1
Artemiev, V (2708)-Giri, A (2764) [E20]
chess.com (1.15) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.Bxc3 Ne4 7.Rc1 b6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.g3 Bb7 10.Bg2 d6 11.0-0 Nxc3 12.Rxc3 Nd7 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.b4 Ne4 15.Rd3 Qe7 16.Nd2 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rac8 19.Qf4 Rfd8 20.Rfd1 h6 21.Rxd6 Rxd6 22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Rxd6 Rxc4 24.Rd8+ Kh7 25.Rd7 Kg6 26.Rxa7 Rc3 27.a4 Rb3 28.b5 Ra3 29.e3 h5 30.Kf3 Ra2 31.h3 Kf6 32.Ra6 g5 33.Ke4 g4 34.hxg4 hxg4 35.Kf4 Rxf2+ 36.Kxg4 Rb2 37.Kf3 Rb4 38.Ra7 Kg6 39.Ke2 f5 40.Kd3 Kg5 41.Ra6 Kg4 42.Rxb6 Rxa4 43.Rxe6 Kxg3 44.b6 Rb4 45.Kc3 Rb1 46.Kd4 Kf3 47.Kc5 Rc1+ 48.Kd6 Rd1+ 49.Kc7 Rc1+ 50.Rc6 Rb1 51.Rc3 Ke2 52.b7 Kd2 53.Ra3 Rc1+ 54.Kb6 Rb1+ 55.Ka7 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Artemiev, V (2708) [C50]
chess.com (1.37) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.d4 d6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.c3 Nf6 7.d5 Nb8 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.h3 Bh5 10.Be2 Nbd7 11.Re1 c6 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.Nh4 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 g6 15.Nhf3 Nc5 16.c4 a5 17.b3 Qb6 18.Rb1 Rfb8 19.Ba3 Nfd7 20.Red1 Ne6 21.Nf1 Qc7 22.Ne3 Ndc5 23.Qc2 h5 24.g3 Bf8 25.Bc1 Rb7 26.Bd2 Nd4 27.Nxd4 exd4 28.Ng2 Re8 29.Re1 d3 30.Qc3 Bg7 31.Qxa5 Qxa5 32.Bxa5 Ra7 33.b4 Nxe4 34.Rbd1 Bc3 35.Re3 Bd4 36.Rexd3 Bxf2+ 37.Kh2 c5 38.a3 Bd4 39.Re1 Re5 40.Nf4 Nf2 41.Rxe5 dxe5 0-1
Giri, A (2764)-Artemiev, V (2708) [B28]
chess.com (1.39) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Be3 Nbd7 10.c4 Qd6 11.Nc3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Be7 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.b3 0-0 16.Rc1 Rfd8 17.Rfd1 h6 18.Nf3 Ba3 19.Rc2 Bb4 20.Bd2 Qa5 21.Ne4 Nxe4 22.Qxe4 Nc5 23.Qe2 Bxd2 24.Rcxd2 Qc7 25.Qe5 Rxd2 26.Qxc7 Rxd1+ 27.Kh2 Nd3 28.Qxb7 Rf8 29.b4 Nxf2 30.c5 f5 31.Kg3 Ne4+ 32.Kf4 g5+ 33.Ke5 Rf6 34.Nd4 Rf7 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qxe6 Kg8 37.Nxf5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd8/d6/c5 2.S(x)c5#; 1…Bd5/xe4/b5/xa4/d7/e8 2.R(x)d5#; 1…Kxe4 2.Rxf6#; 1…Rxe4/f3 2.R(x)f3#; 1…g2 2.Sf2#./PN
