SHAKHRIYAR Mamedyarov drew with Anish Giri in the penultimate round of the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, to keep his one point lead over his closest pursuers and needs only to draw his last round game to win the Categoty 21 (average Elo: 2751) event.
Mamedyarov had an easy draw in 25 moves of a Gruenfeld against Giri, and will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final round, needing only a draw to take the championship. The only decisive game of the round was Levon Aronian’s victory over Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Aronian relentlessly ground out Deac to win in 62 moves of a Sicilian Rossolimo. Fabiano Caruana botched a winning position and allowed Alexander Grischuk to escape with a draw in 66 moves of a Ruy Lopez. Wesley So versus Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov versus Constantin Lupulescu were likewise drawn.
The final round pairings are: Lupulescu vs. So, Aronian vs. Radjabov, Caruana vs. Deac, Giri vs. Grischuk, and Vachier-Lagrave vs. Mamedyarov.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Mamedyarov, 5½; 2-4. So, Aronian, Grischuk, 4½; 5-6. Giri, Radjabov, 4; 7-8. Deac, Caruana, 3½; 9-10. Vachier-Lagrave, Lupulescu, 3.
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-Giri, A (2780) [D85]
Bucharest (8.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Rxb7 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bxd4 15.e5 Na6 16.Rxe7 Rad8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qe1 Nc5 19.Bc3 Nd3 20.Bxd4 Nxe1 21.Rg7+ Kh8 22.Rd7+ Kg8 23.Rg7+ Kh8 24.Rd7+ Kg8 25.Rg7+ ½-½
Grischuk, A (2776)-Caruana, F (2820) [C78]
Bucharest (8.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.a4 Bg4 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Qxa8 12.h3 Bh5 13.Re1 h6 14.g4 Bg6 15.Be3 exd4 16.cxd4 0-0 17.d5 Bxe3 18.Rxe3 Na5 19.Bc2 Nc4 20.Re1 Nxb2 21.Qd4 Nc4 22.Bd3 Qa4 23.Bxc4 bxc4 24.Nc3 Qc2 25.Qd2 Qb3 26.Nd4 Qa3 27.Ndb5 Qa5 28.Nd4 Re8 29.f3 Nd7 30.Kg2 Ne5 31.Rb1 Ra8 32.Kg3 Nd3 33.Nde2 Qc5 34.Nf4 Ne5 35.Qf2 Qa5 36.Qd4 Kh7 37.Nfe2 f6 38.f4 c5 39.dxc6 Nxc6 40.Qxd6 Rc8 41.Rb7 Qd8 42.Rd7 Qf8 43.Qxf8 Rxf8 44.Rc7 Be8 45.Rc8 Kg8 46.Nd5 Bd7 47.Rc7 Rd8 48.Kf2 Be8 49.Ng3 Nd4 50.Rxc4 Nb5 51.Nf5 Kf8 52.h4 Bd7 53.Nfe3 Nd6 54.Rd4 Bc6 55.Rb4 h5 56.Nc3 hxg4 57.Nxg4 Bxe4 58.Nxe4 Nxe4+ 59.Rxe4 f5 60.Re5 fxg4 61.Kg3 Kf7 62.Kxg4 Rd1 63.Rf5+ Kg8 64.Re5 Kf7 65.Rf5+ Kg8 66.Re5 Kf7 ½-½
So, Wesley (2770)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760) [A34]
Bucharest (8.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bc4 Nd3+ 7.Ke2 Nf4+ 8.Kf1 Ne6 9.h4 Nd4 10.Nb5 Ndc6 11.d4 a6 12.d5 axb5 13.Bxb5 e6 14.Qe2 Be7 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.Rh3 0-0 17.Rg3 Bxh4 18.Nxh4 Qxh4 19.Rh3 Qf6 20.Qh5 h6 21.Rg3 Kh7 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Kg1 Ra4 24.e5 Qh4 25.Qxh4 Rxh4 26.Rc3 Re4 27.Rxc5 Re1+ 28.Kh2 Rd8 29.Bg5 Rxa1 30.Bxd8 Rxa2 31.Rxc6 Bb7 32.Rc7 Bd5 33.Rxf7 Rxb2 34.Bf6 Rb7 35.Rxb7 Bxb7 36.Bd8 Bd5 37.Bc7 Bb7 38.Bd8 Bd5 39.Bc7 Bb7 40.Bd8 ½-½
Deac, B-D (2627)-Aronian, L (2781) [B51]
Bucharest (8.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.0-0 e6 8.Rd1 Be7 9.Nc3 Qc7 10.a4 0-0 11.a5 Rd8 12.Be3 Ng4 13.Bg5 Ngf6 14.Qc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4 b5 16.axb6 Nxb6 17.Be2 Bb7 18.Nd2 Rd7 19.Bd3 Rc7 20.f3 d5 21.Be3 dxe4 22.Ndxe4 Nfd5 23.Bd4 f6 24.b3 Kf7 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Bc4 a5 27.c3 g5 28.Ra4 f5 29.Ng3 Bc5 30.Bxc5 Rxc5 31.Bxd5 Bxd5 32.c4 Bc6 33.Ra3 a4 34.Rda1 Rg8 35.bxa4 g4 36.f4 Rxc4 37.Ne2 Rb8 38.R3a2 Bd5 39.a5 Rcb4 40.Rd2 Rb2 41.Rad1 Rxd2 42.Rxd2 Ra8 43.Nc3 Rxa5 44.Kf2 Bc6 45.Nd1 Ra4 46.g3 Ra1 47.Nb2 Rh1 48.Nd3 Rxh2+ 49.Ke3 Rxd2 50.Kxd2 Ke7 51.Ne5 Kd6 52.Ke3 Kd5 53.Kd3 Be8 54.Ke3 h5 55.Nd3 Kc4 56.Ne5+ Kc3 57.Nd3 h4 58.gxh4 g3 59.Ne5 Bh5 60.Nd7 e5 61.Nxe5 Kc2 62.Nd3 Kd1 0-1
Radjabov, T (2765)-Lupulescu, C (2656) [B67]
Bucharest (8.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.f4 b5 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Kb1 Qb6 12.Nce2 b4 13.f5 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 e5 15.Nf3 h5 16.Bc4 Rc8 17.Qd5 Rh7 18.Nd2 Bc6 19.Qd3 a5 20.Bd5 Bb5 21.Bc4 Bc6 22.Bd5 Bb5 23.Bc4 Bd7 24.Rhe1 a4 25.Nf1 Bh6 26.b3 Ke7 27.Qe2 h4 28.Rd3 axb3 29.cxb3 Bb5 30.Bxb5 Qxb5 31.Nd2 Bxd2 32.Qxd2 Qb6 33.Rd1 Rc6 34.g4 hxg3 35.hxg3 Rg7 36.Qe2 Rg8 37.g4 Qc5 38.Rd5 Qc3 39.R5d3 Qc5 40.Rd5 Qc3 41.R5d3 Qc5 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rh8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxf7/xg6/e5 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Qf6 2.Bxf6#; 1…Qd4 2. Sd1# 1…Qxh8 2.Qxh8#; 1…Kb2 2.Qxd2#; 1…Kd4, Nb3/f3/b1/f1, Bb2 2.Nb5#./PN
