GM Richard Rapport crushed GMs Vugar Asadli and Rauf Mamedov in Rounds 4 and 5, respectively, of the ongoing 7th Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Baku, Azerbaijan, to seize the lead with two rounds to go.
The 25-year old Rapport first whitewashed Asadli, 3-0, in their Round 4 mini-match and bulldozed Mamedov in Round 5 by a similar score. Erstwhile leader Fabiano Caruana had a hard time beating David Navara, 2-1, in Round 4 and was held to a 1Ā½-1Ā½ draw by Sergey Karjakin in Round 5. Meanwhile, former world champion Viswanathan Anand finally got a taste of victory in the tournament with a close 2-1 victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The win, however, failed to lift Anandās standings.
The standings after Round 5: 1. Rapport, 13; 2. Caruana, 11; 3. Karjakin, 10; 4-5. Navara, Mamedyarov, 8; 6. Mamedov, 6; 7. Anand, 3; 8. Asadli, 1.
Caruana,F (2792)-Navara,D (2697) [A22]
Baku (4.3) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 Bb4 4.e4 Bxc3 5.dxc3 d6 6.f3 a5 7.a4 Be6 8.Nh3 h6 9.Nf2 Na6 10.Be3 Nc5 11.Qc2 0-0 12.g4 Nfd7 13.h4 c6 14.Be2 b5 15.axb5 cxb5 16.cxb5 d5 17.exd5 Bxd5 18.c4 Bb7 19.Rd1 Qe7 20.g5 e4 21.f4 Nd3+ 22.Kf1 N7c5 23.gxh6 gxh6 24.Rg1+ Kh8 25.Qc3+ f6 26.Rg6 Rg8 27.Qxf6+ Qxf6 28.Rxf6 Nxf2 29.Kxf2 Nd3+ 30.Bxd3 exd3 31.Rxh6+ Kg7 32.Rb6 Be4 33.Re6 Bf5 34.Re5 Kf6 35.Bd4 Rad8 36.Rd5+ Kg6 37.Rg1+ Kh6 38.Rxg8 Rxg8 39.Rxf5 Rg2+ 40.Kxg2 d2 41.Rd5 1-0
Anand,V (2751)-Karjakin,S (2743) [C53]
Baku (4.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.a4 a5 8.Nbd2 h6 9.Re1 Ba7 10.Nf1 Ne7 11.Ng3 Ng6 12.h3 c6 13.Bb3 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.d4 exd4 16.Nxd4 Be6 17.Bc2 Bd7 18.Ndf5 Bxf5 19.Nxf5 Qf6 20.Qf3 Rae8 21.Bd2 Ne5 22.Qe4 g6 23.Nxh6+ Kg7 24.Rf1 Rh8 25.Ng4 Nxg4 26.Qxg4 Rh4 27.Qg3 Nf4 28.Rae1 Reh8 29.Be3 Bb8 30.Bxf4 Rxf4 31.Qe3 Bd6 32.Rd1 Rh5 33.g3 Rc4 34.Qd3 Qe6 35.Qf3 0-1
Asadli,V (2579)-Rapport,R (2763) [C15]
Baku (4.2) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd3 dxe4 5.Bxe4 Nf6 6.Bf3 0-0 7.Nge2 e5 8.dxe5 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Ng4 10.Bxg4 Bxg4 11.f3 Bf5 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Nxc3 Nc6 14.Re1 Rad8+ 15.Bd2 Rfe8 16.Kc1 Nd4 17.Ne4 Rxe5 18.Bc3 Bxe4 19.fxe4 f5 20.b4 Rxe4 21.Rxe4 fxe4 22.Kb2 Nb5 23.Be5 Re8 24.Bg3 Kf7 25.c4 Nd6 26.c5 Nf5 27.Bxc7 e3 28.Kc3 e2 29.Kd2 Ne3 30.Bg3 Nxg2 31.Be1 Ne3 32.Bg3 Ng2 33.Be1 Rd8+ 34.Kxe2 Re8+ 35.Kd2 Nxe1 36.Rxe1 Rxe1 37.Kxe1 Ke6 38.Ke2 Kd5 39.Kd3 a6 40.h3 g5 41.Ke3 h5 42.Kf3 0-1
Rapport,R (2763)-Mamedov,R (2656) [B67]
Baku (5.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.Kb1 h6 10.Be3 b5 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.f3 Be7 13.Ne2 Bb7 14.Nd4 Rc8 15.g4 Nd7 16.h4 d5 17.Bh3 Ne5 18.g5 hxg5 19.hxg5 Nc4 20.Qe2 Nxe3 21.Bxe6 Rxh1 22.Rxh1 Nxc2 23.Bxc8 Nxd4 24.Bxb7 Qc7 25.Qd3 Qc4 26.Qxc4 dxc4 27.Bxa6 Bxg5 28.Rd1 Nxf3 29.Bxb5+ Ke7 30.Kc2 Ne5 31.Kc3 Be3 32.Bxc4 g5 33.Bf1 g4 34.b4 g3 35.a4 Ng4 36.a5 Bf2 37.Bh3 Ne3 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.a6 g2 40.a7 Nd5+ 41.Rxd5 1-0
Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Anand,V (2751) [D38]
Baku (5.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Bd7 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.e4 Na5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 c5 12.e5 g5 13.Nxg5 Nd5 14.Nf3 Qb6 15.Rb1 Qc6 16.Be2 Qa4 17.Qc1 Nb3 18.Qb2 cxd4 19.cxd4 Qa5+ 20.Kf1 b5 21.Bd1 Qc3 22.Bxb3 Qxb2 23.Rxb2 cxb3 24.Rxb3 Rc8 25.Ke2 Rc2+ 26.Nd2 b4 27.axb4 Bb5+ 28.Kd1 Ra2 29.Kc1 Nf4 30.Ne4 Ra1+ 31.Rb1 Rxb1+ 0-1
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc5!, and Blackās futile options are: 1…Re7 2.Bc4#; 1…Rc6/xc5 2.Nf7#; 1…Qxc5 2.Bg3#; 1…Qh3 2.Bc6#; 1…Bh3 2.Rxe4#.
