The Airthings Masters, the second of ten events in the 2020-2021 Champions Chess Tour calendar, got underway with twelve of the world’s top players competing in a preliminary round robin with the top 8 qualifying for slots in a later knockout phase. The rapid time controls used in the $1.5-million Tour is 15 minutes for all moves, with a 10-second increment after each move.
The players are Magnus Carlsen (2862), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2784), Levon Aronian (2781), Alexander Grischuk (2777), Wesley So (2770), Teimour Radjabov (2765), Anish Giri (2764), Hikaru Nakamura (2736), Pentala Harikrishna (2732), Daniil Dubov (2702) and David Anton Guijarro (2675). After four rounds of play, five GMs – Nakamura, Aronian, Dubov, Radjabov and So – are leading the fray, with each scoring a win and three draws apiece in the first day of competition.
The standings after Round 4: 1-4. Nakamura, Aronian, Dubov, Radjabov, So, 2½; 5-9. Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen, Harikrishna, 2; 10. Vachier-Lagrave, 1½; 11-12. Anton Guijarro, Giri, 1.
Grischuk, A (2777)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C53]
chess24.com (1.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.Nbd2 a5 9.Nf1 Be6 10.Bb5 Ne7 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4 Bb6 13.Ng3 d5 14.e5 Ne4 15.Bd3 Nxg3 16.hxg3 Bg4 17.Be3 a4 18.Rc1 Qd7 19.Kh2 Bh5 20.e6 fxe6 21.Ne5 Qe8 22.g4 Bg6 23.Nxg6 Nxg6 24.g5 Nf4 25.gxh6 Nxd3 26.Qxd3 Qh5+ 27.Kg1 c6 28.hxg7 Rf6 29.f3 Bc7 30.Bf2 Kxg7 31.Kf1 Rg6 32.g4 Qh2 33.Ke2 Bg3 34.Rf1 e5 35.dxe5 Re8 36.Kd1 Bxf2 37.Rc2 Qxe5 38.Rcxf2 Qe3 39.Qxe3 Rxe3 40.Re2 Rge6 41.Rfe1 Rd3+ 42.Kc2 Rxe2+ 43.Rxe2 Rxf3 44.Re7+ Rf7 45.Re6 Rf2+ 46.Kc3 Kf7 47.Rh6 Ke7 48.g5 a3 49.b4 Rxa2 50.Kb3 Rg2 51.Kxa3 Rg3+ 52.Ka4 Rxg5 53.Rh7+ Kd6 54.Rxb7 Rg3 55.Rb8 d4 56.Rd8+ Ke5 57.Re8+ Kf4 58.Rf8+ Ke3 59.Rf6 d3 60.Kb3 Ke2 61.Rd6 Ke1 62.Re6+ Kd1 63.Rxc6 d2+ 64.Kc4 Kc2 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Giri, A (2764) [B90]
chess24.com (2.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 Be7 9.a3 0-0 10.Qe2 Bb7 11.f3 Nc6 12.0-0-0 Na5 13.h4 Rc8 14.Kb1 Rxc3 15.bxc3 Qc7 16.g4 Nd7 17.g5 Ne5 18.h5 Nec4 19.Bc1 d5 20.g6 Nxa3+ 21.Bxa3 Bxa3 22.gxf7+ Rxf7 23.Rd3 Nxb3 24.cxb3 dxe4 25.fxe4 Qe5 26.b4 Bxe4 27.Nc2 Rf5 28.Re1 Bxd3 29.Qxe5 Rxe5 30.Rxe5 Kf7 31.Rc5 g5 32.Rxg5 Kf6 33.Rg8 Be4 34.h6 e5 35.Rb8 Kf5 36.Rb6 a5 37.bxa5 Bc5 38.Rxb5 Bg1 39.Kb2 Bd3 40.Rb7 1-0
Radjabov, T (2765)-Anton Guijarro, D (2675) [D38]
chess24.com (2.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.e3 0-0 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Bd3 c6 11.0-0 Nd7 12.Qc2 Qd8 13.a3 Bd6 14.Rfe1 Nf6 15.Ne5 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Ng4 17.f4 d4 18.Rad1 Nxh2 19.Kxh2 Qh4+ 20.Kg1 dxc3 21.bxc3 Bg4 22.Rb1 Rad8 23.Be4 Rd7 24.Qf2 Qxf2+ 25.Kxf2 Rfd8 26.Kg3 Be6 27.a4 b6 28.a5 b5 29.Bxc6 Rc7 30.Bxb5 Rxc3 31.Bf1 g5 32.Rb7 gxf4+ 33.Kxf4 a6 34.Ra1 Rd2 35.Rb6 Rf2+ 36.Kg3 Rfc2 37.Rxa6 Rxe3+ 38.Kh2 Rxe5 39.Rb6 Bd5 40.a6 Rh5+ 41.Kg3 Bxg2 42.Bxg2 Rg5+ 43.Kf3 Rcxg2 44.a7 R2g3+ 45.Ke2 Rg2+ 46.Kd3 R2g3+ 47.Kc4 R5g4+ 48.Kb5 Rb3+ 49.Ka6 Rxb6+ 50.Kxb6 Rb4+ 51.Kc5 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-So, Wesley (2770) [A14]
chess24.com (3.4) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.b3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Bb2 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Qc7 11.Qb1 e5 12.e3 f5 13.Rc1 Be6 14.Qb2 Bf6 15.Ne1 Rad8 16.d3 Bd5 17.b4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 cxb4 19.Bxb4 Rf7 20.Bc3 f4 21.exf4 exf4 22.Rab1 Bxc3 23.Qxc3 Qd7 24.Qc5 Nd4 25.Rc4 f3+ 0-1
Dubov, D (2702)-Anton Guijarro, D (2675) [E04]
chess24.com (4.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c6 6.0-0 b5 7.Ne5 Bb7 8.Nc3 a6 9.b3 cxb3 10.axb3 Be7 11.Bb2 0-0 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 a5 14.Qc2 h6 15.Rfc1 Bf6 16.Ng4 Bg5 17.f4 f5 18.d5 fxe4 19.dxe6 Bf6 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Qxe4 Qe7 22.f5 Na6 23.Rxa5 h5 24.Qf3 Qh7 25.Rd1 Rad8 26.Raa1 Qh6 27.Kf2 Rd5 28.Rxd5 cxd5 29.Ra5 d4 30.Qxb7 Qe3+ 31.Kf1 d3 32.Qf3 Qd2 33.Rxa6 Qxb2 34.Qxd3 Rc8 35.e7 Re8 36.Re6 Kf7 37.Qf3 Qc1+ 38.Kg2 Qh6 39.Qd5 Kg7 40.Qxb5 Kf7 41.Qc4 Rxe7 42.Re4+ Ke8 43.Qg8+ Kd7 44.Rd4+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.e8=N!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc8 2.bxc8=Q#; 1…Sb5 2.Be6#; 1…gxf6 2.Qg8#; 1…Qd4/xf4 2.Qd5#; 1…Be2 2.Qxe2#; 1…Bf1 2.Qxf1#; 1…Bc2 2.Qxc2#./PN
