The preliminary stage of the Opera Euro Rapid – the third in the series of ten rapid tournaments of the $1.5-million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour (formerly the Magnus Carlsen Tour) was held on Feb. 6 at the chess24.com server with 16 of the world’s top grandmasters competing for a $100,000 prize fund.
As usual, the event has a time format of 15 minutes plus ten-second increments each move and will be played over three days with the top eight players advancing to the knockout quarterfinals. The players are Magnus Carlsen, Liren Ding, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Wesley So, Teimour Radjabov, Anish Giri, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hikaru Nakamura, Vidit Gujrathi, Daniil Dubov, Sam Shankland, and Matthias Blübaum.
Carlsen leads the event alone after five rounds of play with So and Nepomniachtchi trailing half-a-point behind. So shocked Carlsen in Round 1, but the world champion recovered quickly with 4 straight wins.
Preliminary standings after Round 5: 1. Carlsen, 4; 2-3. So, Nepomniachtchi, 3½; 4-6. Vachier-Lagrave, Giri, Radjabov, 3; 7-10. Nakamura, Duda, Aronian, Shankland, 2½; 11-13. Vidit, Grischuk, Dubov, 2; 14-15. Ding, Bluebaum, 1½; 16. Dominguez Perez, 1.
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2862) [B52]
chess24.com (1.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.f3 0-0 10.Be3 Rc8 11.b3 Nc6 12.0-0 Qd8 13.Qd2 Qa5 14.Rfd1 Nd7 15.Nde2 a6 16.a4 e6 17.Rab1 Rd8 18.Bg5 Re8 19.Bf4 Nde5 20.h3 Rad8 21.Kh2 Qb4 22.Bg5 f6 23.Be3 Nf7 24.f4 f5 25.exf5 gxf5 26.Nd4 d5 27.cxd5 exd5 28.Bg1 Nd6 29.Qd3 Ne4 30.Nce2 Nxd4 31.Bxd4 Bxd4 32.Nxd4 Kh8 33.Rbc1 Qd6 34.Qe3 Ng5 35.Qf2 Ne4 36.Qh4 Rf8 37.Rc2 Qg6 38.Rc7 Rg8 39.Rg1 Rc8 40.Rxb7 Rc3 41.Ne6 Rc2 42.Ng5 Rg7 43.Rb8+ Rg8 44.Rxg8+ Kxg8 45.Nxe4 dxe4 46.Kh1 Kg7 47.g4 Kf7 48.gxf5 Qxf5 49.Rg5 Rc1+ 50.Kg2 Rc2+ 51.Kf1 Rc1+ 52.Ke2 Rc2+ 53.Ke1 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Ding, L (2791) [B90]
chess24.com (1.3) 2021
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.h4 Bb7 11.h5 h6 12.f3 Nc6 13.Qe2 Na5 14.g4 Rc8 15.g5 hxg5 16.h6 g6 17.h7+ Kh8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Nxe6 Qd7 20.Nxf8 Bxf8 21.0-0-0 Rxc3 22.bxc3 Qe6 23.Bxg5 Nh5 24.Rxh5 gxh5 25.e5 Kxh7 26.Qd3+ Qg6 27.exd6 Bxd6 28.Qxd6 Qxg5+ 29.f4 Qg7 30.Qd3+ Kh6 31.Qd6+ Kh7 32.Qd8 Nc6 33.Qe8 1-0
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2743)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2789) [D87]
chess24.com (1.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 b6 11.Qd2 Bb7 12.Rac1 Rc8 13.Rfd1 e6 14.Bb5 cxd4 15.cxd4 Na5 16.f3 Qe7 17.Bg5 Qa3 18.h4 a6 19.Bd3 Nc6 20.Bb1 Na5 21.Bd3 Nc6 22.e5 Nb4 23.Bc4 Rfe8 24.h5 b5 25.Rc3 Qa5 26.Bb3 Rxc3 27.Nxc3 Qb6 28.Be3 Nd5 29.Nxd5 Bxd5 30.Bxd5 exd5 31.h6 Bf8 32.Rc1 b4 33.Kf2 a5 34.Qc2 Ra8 35.Qa4 Qd8 36.Qc6 a4 37.e6 Ra7 38.exf7+ Kxf7 39.Bf4 Qd7 40.Qb6 Rb7 41.Qa6 b3 42.axb3 axb3 43.Be5 Be7 44.Rc6 Ra7 45.Qb6 Rb7 46.Qa6 Ra7 47.Qb6 Ra2+ 48.Ke3 Qf5 49.Rc7 Qg5+ 50.Bf4 Qh4 51.g3 Qf6 52.Qxb3 Ra5 53.Be5 Qa6 54.Qd3 Qb6 55.Kf4 Ra2 56.g4 Qb2 57.Qd1 Ke6 58.Qh1 Qd2+ 59.Kg3 Qf2+ 0-1
Carlsen, M (2862)-Aronian, L (2781) [D38]
chess24.com (2.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 0-0 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nbd7 11.Qb5 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Nb6 13.Nd2 Qd7 14.Qxd7 Nfxd7 15.a4 a5 16.Ke2 Rfe8 17.Rhb1 Re6 18.Bg3 c5 19.Rb5 c4 20.Bc7 Rc6 21.Bxb6 Nxb6 22.g4 Kf8 23.h4 Ke8 24.e4 Rd8 25.e5 f6 26.f4 g5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.f5 fxe5 29.dxe5 d4 30.Rh1 dxc3 31.Ne4 c2 32.e6 Rd4 33.Re5 Nd5 34.Rxd5 Rxe4+ 35.Kd2 Rxg4 36.Rh8+ Ke7 37.Rh7+ Ke8 38.f6 c1Q+ 39.Kxc1 Rg1+ 40.Kc2 Rg2+ 41.Kd1 Rg1+ 42.Kc2 Rg2+ 43.Kc3 Rg3+ 44.Kd4 Rd3+ 45.Ke5 Re3+ 46.Kf5 Rcxe6 47.Rh8+ 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Dubov, D(2710) [B30]
chess24.com (3.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be3 Qc7 8.Be2 Be7 9.c4 0-0 10.Nc3 b6 11.Rc1 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Bb7 13.g3 Bf6 14.Qd3 Bxc3 15.Rxc3 f5 16.exf5 Rxf5 17.f3 Raf8 18.Qd1 Ne5 19.Bd4 g5 20.Qd2 g4 21.f4 Qc6 22.Kf2 Ng6 23.Bxg4 e5 24.Bxf5 exd4 25.Qxd4 Rxf5 26.Re3 Rc5 27.b3 b5 28.Re8+ Kf7 29.Rd8 Nf8 30.Rb8 Ne6 31.Qd3 Rh5 32.h4 bxc4 33.bxc4 Qc7 34.Rh8 Qb6+ 35.Ke1 Nc5 36.Qe2 Qa5+ 37.Kf2 Ne4+ 38.Kg1 Qb6+ 39.Kh2 Qg6 40.Rf3 Qg4 41.Re3 Qxe2+ 42.Rxe2 Bc6 43.Kh3 Kg7 44.Re8 d5 45.Re7+ Kf8 46.Rc7 Rh6 47.cxd5 Bxd5 48.Rb2 Nd6 49.Rb8+ Ne8 50.Rxa7 Rc6 51.Rxh7 Be6+ 52.g4 Rc3+ 53.Kh2 Bg8 54.Rh8 Re3 55.a4 Kg7 56.Rh5 Nf6 57.Rg5+ Kf7 58.a5 Bh7 59.Rb7+ Kf8 60.Rb6 Kf7 61.f5 Ne4 62.a6 Re2+ 63.Kg1 Nd2 64.Rb7+ Kf6 65.Rxh7 Nf3+ 66.Kf1 Rd2 67.Rh6+ Ke5 68.f6+ Kf4 69.Rf5+ Kg3 70.Rxf3+ Kxf3 71.Ke1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…gxh6 2.Rec5#; 1…axb5 2.Sxb5#; 1…gxf5 2.Sxf5#; 1…Sa4/c4/d1 2.R(x)c4#./PN
