Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura defeated their respective opponents before the weekend to complete the semifinal cast of the 2020 Speed Chess Championship being played at the chess.com server.
Carlsen met with some difficulty but finally managed to eliminate a game Vladislav Artemiev, 13½-9½, while Nakamura has an easier time disposing of Vladimir Fedoseev, 21½-5½. The two winners thus joined early semifinalists Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who had booted out Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian in Nov. 19 and Dec. 2, respectively.
The semifinal matches, to be played from Dec. 11 and 12, will pit Wesley against Nakamura, and Carlsen versus Vachier-Lagrave. As we reported earlier, each 2020 Speed Chess Championship match will feature 90 minutes of 5 + 1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3 + 1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1 + 1 bullet chess. The semifinal round has a $24,000 prize pool.
Artemiev, V (2708)-Carlsen, M (2862) [B06]
chess.com (2.37) 2020
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 a6 5.h3 b5 6.a4 b4 7.Ne2 Nd7 8.Ng3 e5 9.Bc4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Bb7 11.0-0 Ngf6 12.Re1 0-0 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bf4 Re8 15.Ndf5 gxf5 16.Nxf5 Bxe4 17.Nxh6+ Bxh6 18.Bxh6 Ne5 19.Ba2 Bg6 20.f4 Ned7 21.Qf3 Kh8 22.Rxe8+ Qxe8 23.f5 Bh7 24.Bxf7 Ne5 0-1
Carlsen, M (2862)-Artemiev, V (2708) [B13]
chess.com (2.34) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nf3 e6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Na3 a6 10.Nc2 Bd7 11.Qe2 h6 12.Re1 g5 13.Ne5 Rg8 14.Bd2 h5 15.a4 h4 16.b4 g4 17.b5 Ne7 18.hxg4 a5 19.g5 Ne4 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Qxe4 Bxe5 22.dxe5 Rc8 23.Nd4 Ng6 24.c4 Qxc4 25.Rec1 Qd5 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8 27.Qxd5 exd5 28.Rc1 Bd7 29.Rc7 Nxe5 30.Rxb7 Ke7 31.Bxa5 Nc4 32.Bb4+ Kd8 33.Rb8+ Bc8 34.b6 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Fedoseev, V (2676) [C17]
chess.com (2.38) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 a6 6.Qg4 Kf8 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Nf3 Nge7 10.0-0-0 Qc7 11.Rde1 Nb4 12.Kb1 Nxd3 13.cxd3 Bd7 14.Ng5 h6 15.Nf3 Nf5 16.Rc1 Qb6 17.Na4 Bxa4 18.Qxa4 Kg8 19.g4 Nd4 20.Rxc5 Nxf3 21.Be3 d4 22.Bxd4 Qd8 23.Be3 b6 24.Rc3 Nxe5 25.Qe4 Nd7 26.h4 Nf6 27.Qf3 Nd5 28.Rcc1 Qd7 29.g5 Qb5 30.Bd4 Rd8 31.Rhg1 h5 32.g6 f6 33.Qe4 Qd7 34.f4 Rh6 35.Rge1 Ne7 36.Bxb6 Re8 37.Qxe6+ Qxe6 38.Rxe6 Rxg6 39.Rce1 Kf7 40.Bc5 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2676)-Nakamura, H (2736) [B06]
chess.com (2.37) 2020
1.e4 g6 2.h4 Bg7 3.h5 c5 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.h6 Bf8 8.Be2 Nd4 9.Nf3 e5 10.Nd2 Be7 11.f4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Be6 13.Nf3 0-0 14.Qd2 d5 15.Nxd4 cxd4 16.Nxd5 Bxd5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.0-0 Nxf4 19.Qxf4 Bg5 20.Qe4 Re8 21.Qf3 Be3+ 22.Kh1 Qh4+ 23.Qh3 Qxh3+ 24.gxh3 Bxh6 25.Bf3 Re7 26.Bd5 Rd8 27.Bb3 Kg7 28.Rf3 f5 29.Raf1 Be3 30.a4 f4 31.h4 Re5 32.Kg2 h6 33.Rh3 Rf8 34.Kf3 Bd2 35.Rh2 Re3+ 36.Kg2 f3+ 37.Kh1 Be1 38.Bd5 b6 39.Rh3 f2 40.Rh2 Rf4 41.Be4 Rg3 42.c3 Rfg4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Re4 2.Qxe4#; 1…Bxc3+ 2.Qxc3#; 1…d1=S+ 2.Rxd1#./PN
