Undeterred by a Round 9 loss to top seed Fabiano Caruana, a determined Aliresa Firouzja maintained his composure to bounce back with a win in Round 10 to seize a slim half-point lead over his closest pursuers with a round to go at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, Latvia.
The 18-year old Firouzja, who now plays under the French flag, defeated England’s David Howell in 57 moves of an Italian Game to wriggle out of a three-way tie for first that resulted from his loss to Caruana. He started Round 10 tied with Caruana and Howll for first. His win over Howell, coupled by Caruana’s draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, enabled Firouzja to regain the lead. Meanwhile, Russia’s Grigory Oparin upset Compatriot and 5th seed Nikita Vitiugov to move up into a share of 2nd-3rd places with Caruana. Firouzja has 7½ points, while Caruana and Oparin has 7 points apiece.
Vachier-Lagrave and China’s Yangyi Yu tow nine other players sharing 4th to 14th places with 6½ points and are mathemarically poised to catch up with the front runners. The top two placers in the event will receive, among other prizes, slots in the next World Championship Candidates tournament.
Caruana,F (2800)-Firouzja,A (2770) [B12]
Riga (9.1) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 e6 8.Ne2 Ne7 9.b4 Qa6 10.Qb3 Nf5 11.Nf3 Nd7 12.a4 Qc4 13.Bd2 Qxb3 14.cxb3 f6 15.0-0 Be7 16.g3 Kf7 17.Rfe1 fxe5 18.dxe5 Rac8 19.Nf4 d4 20.Rac1 c5 21.Nd5 cxb4 22.Nxe7 Nxe7 23.Ng5+ Kg6 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Nxe6 Nc6 26.f4 Kf5 27.Nxg7+ Kg6 28.Ne6 Kf5 29.Ng5 Nc5 30.Nf7 Ke6 31.Nd6 Rg8 32.Kg2 Kd5 33.Rb1 Ne4 34.Nxe4 Kxe4 35.Rc1 Kd3 36.Be1 Ke2 37.e6 d3 38.f5 Nd4 39.Bxb4 d2 40.Bxd2 Kxd2 41.Rc5 Re8 42.Re5 Kd3 43.Kf2 Re7 44.g4 hxg4 45.Kg3 Re8 46.Kxg4 Nc6 47.Kf4 Ne7 48.f6 Ng6+ 49.Kf5 Nxh4+ 50.Kg5 Nf3+ 51.Kf4 Nd4 52.e7 Nc6 53.f7 Rxe7 54.Rd5+ 1-0
Howell,D (2658)-Korobov,A (2690) [E17]
Riga (9.4) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.d4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 Na6 8.Nc3 Ne4 9.Bd2 f5 10.Ne5 d6 11.Nd3 Bf6 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.e3 e5 14.Qg4 Qc8 15.Qxc8 Raxc8 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Bc3 Rfe8 18.b4 Rcd8 19.Rad1 Ba8 20.Nc1 c5 21.b5 Nc7 22.h4 Ne6 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Nb3 Rd3 25.Rc1 g5 26.Nd2 Nd4 27.Bf1 Rxd2 28.Bxd2 Nf3+ 29.Kg2 Nxd2 30.Rd1 Nxf1 31.Rd7 Nd2 32.Rxd2 Bb7 33.Rd6 1-0
Firouzja,A (2770)-Howell,D (2658) [C50]
Riga (10.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.c3 d6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 a5 9.Nbd2 Be6 10.Bb5 Ba7 11.Nf1 Ne7 12.Ng3 c6 13.Ba4 b5 14.Bc2 a4 15.d4 Ng6 16.Be3 Re8 17.Bd3 Bb6 18.a3 Qc7 19.Rc1 Ba5 20.Re2 Qb7 21.c4 bxc4 22.Bxc4 d5 23.Bd3 exd4 24.Nxd4 Bd7 25.Ndf5 Bc7 26.exd5 cxd5 27.Bd4 Be5 28.Nxh6+ gxh6 29.Bxg6 Bxg3 30.Rxe8+ Rxe8 31.Qf3 Qc6 32.Bc2 Bb8 33.Qxf6 Qxf6 34.Bxf6 Rc8 35.Bc3 d4 36.Bd2 Kg7 37.Bd3 Rxc1+ 38.Bxc1 h5 39.h4 Bc6 40.g3 Bd7 41.Kf1 Be5 42.Ke2 Bg4+ 43.Kd2 Bd7 44.Kc2 Be6 45.Bb5 Bb3+ 46.Kd3 Kg6 47.Bd7 Bd1 48.Bd2 f5 49.Bf4 Bg7 50.Bd6 Bf6 51.Be8+ Kh6 52.Bc5 f4 53.Bxd4 Bd8 54.Kd2 Bb3 55.Be5 fxg3 56.fxg3 Ba5+ 57.Kc1 1-0
Vitiugov,N (2727)-Oparin,G (2654) [E24]
Riga (10.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.f3 Nc6 7.e4 d6 8.Be3 b6 9.Bd3 e5 10.d5 Na5 11.Ne2 Kd7 12.0-0 Kc7 13.f4 Ng4 14.Bd2 exf4 15.Bxf4 f6 16.Nd4 Ne5 17.Nb5+ Kb7 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.d6 Rb8 20.Be2 Be6 21.Nc7 Bf7 22.Rb1 Qd7 23.Bg4 Qc6 24.Be6 Bxe6 25.Nxe6 Nxc4 26.Qg4 Rhg8 27.d7 Ne3 28.Qh3 Nxf1 29.Rxf1 Qxe4 30.Qh5 Rgd8 31.Rd1 g6 32.Qxh7 Qe2 33.Rb1 Qc2 34.Rf1 Qd3 35.Nxd8+ Rxd8 36.Qe7 Rxd7 37.Qxf6 Qxc3 38.Qxg6 Qe3+ 39.Kh1 c4 40.Qe6 Qd3 41.Kg1 c3 42.Qxe5 c2 43.Rc1 Qd1+ 44.Kf2 Qd2+ 45.Kg3 Rd3+ 46.Kh4 Qxg2 0-1
Esipenko,A (2720)-Sasikiran,K (2640) [B51]
Riga (10.7) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.Be2 Ngf6 5.Nc3 b6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 Bb7 8.Bg5 e5 9.Qe3 Be7 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.Bb5+ Kf8 13.Ba4 Ba6 14.Bb3 Rc8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Rxd5 h5 17.Kd1 Rh6 18.h3 Kg8 19.Kc1 Bc4 20.Rd2 b5 21.Kb1 a5 22.Bxc4 Qxc4 23.Qe2 Rg6 24.Rg1 a4 25.Qxc4 Rxc4 26.Re2 Bd8 27.Ne1 Ba5 28.f3 Bxe1 29.Rgxe1 h4 30.b3 Rc6 31.Kb2 Kf8 32.Ka3 Ke7 33.Kb4 Rc5 34.bxa4 bxa4 35.Kxa4 Rh6 36.Rb1 Rh8 37.Rb7+ Ke6 38.Kb3 Ra8 39.Rb4 Rca5 40.a4 Kf6 41.c4 R5a6 42.Ra2 R8a7 43.Rb8 Kg5 44.Kb4 g6 45.a5 Rc6 46.Rd2 Kf4 47.Rb6 Rc8 48.Rbxd6 Rca8 49.R6d5 f5 50.Re2 Re7 51.Rb5 Rd8 52.a6 Rd1 53.Ra2 Ra7 54.c5 fxe4 55.fxe4 Kxe4 56.Ka5 Rd8 57.Rb7 Raa8 58.a7 Rd1 59.Ka6 Rdd8 60.c6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nb5/e4 2.Q(x)e4#; 1…Nxa3 2.O-O-O#; 1…Nxc3 2.Rd1#; 1…Nd2 2.Qxd2#.
