THE last qualifying event before the final of the 2021 Meltwater Chess Tour – the Aimchess US Rapid Tournament started in earnest over the weekend at the chess.com playing server. The playing cast includes Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Alireza Firouzja, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Quang Liem Le, Vladislav Artemiev, Jorden Van Foreest, Daniel Naroditsky, Eric Hansen, and Awonder Liang. The time control is 15 minutes base reflection time plus 10 seconds increment per move.
After 10 rounds of play, the 23-year old Russian GM Artemiev remains undefeated with 7½ points, leading the pack half-a-point ahead of Carlsen and Aronian, whom each has seven markers. Only eight of the 16 players competing will advance to the quarterfinals, and with five rounds to go in the preliminary, the trio appears a cinch to advance.
The standings after Round 10: 1. Artemiev, 7½; 2-3. Carlsen, Aronian, 7; 4. Mamedyarov, 6½; 5-6. So, Firouzja, 6; 7-8. Giri, Duda, 5½; 9-10. Naroditsky, Vachier-Lagrave, 5; 11-12. Dominguez Perez, Vidit, 4½; 13-14. Le, Van Foreest, 3; 15-16. Lian, Hansen, 2.
Firouzja, A (2759)-
Carlsen, M (2847) [B01]
chess24.com (4) 202
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 c6 7.Bc4 e6 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Nbd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.h5 Be4 12.0-0 Bd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Bd3 Bd6 15.Qf3 0-0-0 16.Be3 g6 17.h6 Rhf8 18.a3 f5 19.c4 e5 20.b4 Qc7 21.c5 Be7 22.Bb5 e4 23.Qh3 f4 24.Bd2 Bg5 25.c6 Nf6 26.cxb7+ Qxb7 27.Rac1+ Kb8 28.Bc6 Qe7 29.Rc5 e3 30.fxe3 fxe3 31.Be1 Ne4 32.Qh2+ Kc8 33.Bd7+ Kxd7 34.Rc7+ Ke6 35.Qe5# 1-0
Aronian, L (2782)-
Vachier Lagrave, M (2751) [E60]
chess24.com (5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.Ne5 Ng4 7.cxd5 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Bh6 Re8 11.0-0 cxd5 12.Bxd5 Nc6 13.Qb3 e6 14.Bg2 Nd4 15.Qc4 Bd7 16.Rad1 Rc8 17.Qb4 Nf5 18.Bg5 Qxg5 19.Rxd7 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Re7 21.Rxb7 Rxb7 22.Qxb7 Rxc3 23.Qxa7 Qd2 24.Be4 Qd4 25.Qb8+ Kg7 26.Bxf5 exf5 27.e3 Qf6 28.Qb2 Rc4 29.Rb1 Qxb2 30.Rxb2 Rc1+ 31.Kg2 g5 32.Kf3 Rh1 33.a4 Ra1 34.Rb4 Ra2 35.h4 g4+ 36.Kg2 h5 37.Rf4 Kg6 38.Kf1 Kf6 39.e4 Kg6 40.exf5+ Kf6 41.Ke1 Ke5 42.f6 Ke6 43.Kd1 Rb2 44.Kc1 Re2 45.Kb1 Re5 46.Kb2 Kd6 47.Kc3 Kc5 48.Rb4 Kc6 49.Kd3 Rf5 50.Ke2 Re5+ 51.Kd3 Rf5 52.Ke3 Rf3+ 53.Ke2 Ra3 54.Rf4 Kd5 55.Kd2 Kc5 56.Kc2 Ra1 57.Kb2 Rf1 58.a5 Kd6 59.a6 Kc7 60.Rf5 Kb6 61.Kc3 Kxa6 62.Kd2 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-
Vachier Lagrave, M (2751) [D80]
chess24.com (7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.h4 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Na4 Nc6 7.e4 Nb6 8.d5 Ne5 9.h5 Nxa4 10.Qxa4+ Bd7 11.Qa3 Qb6 12.Qc3 Qb4 13.Qxb4 cxb4 14.f4 Ng4 15.hxg6 fxg6 16.e5 Bf5 17.Be2 Bg7 18.Bf3 0-0 19.Ne2 h5 20.Nd4 Bd7 21.Bd2 Rac8 22.Rc1 Rxc1+ 23.Bxc1 Rc8 24.Ke2 Rc4 25.Kd3 Rc5 26.Be3 Bh6 27.g3 Nxe3 28.Kxe3 a5 29.Be4 Kg7 30.Nb3 Rc8 31.Nxa5 Ra8 32.Nxb7 Rxa2 33.Nc5 Bg4 34.Nd3 g5 35.f5 h4 36.gxh4 gxh4+ 37.Kd4 1-0
Artemiev, V (2704)-
Aronian, L (2782) [D38]
chess24.com (8) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 c5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bd2 0-0 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.0-0 Nf6 10.a3 cxd4 11.exd4 Be7 12.Be3 b6 13.Qe2 Bb7 14.Rad1 Rc8 15.Rfe1 Qc7 16.Bg5 Rfd8 17.Bb1 Na5 18.Ne5 Qd6 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Bxh7+ Kf8 21.Qh5 Rc7 22.Be4 Ba6 23.Bb1 g6 24.Bxg6 fxg6 25.Nxg6+ Kg7 26.Ne4 Qd5 27.Nf4 Qxh5 28.Nxh5+ Kf7 29.Nhxf6 Rc2 30.d5 exd5 31.Nxd5 Nc6 32.Ng5+ Kg6 33.Ne6 Rh8 34.Ndf4+ Kf6 35.Rd6 Re8 36.Nd4+ 1-0
So, Wesley (2772)-
Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [A37]
chess24.com (9) 2021
1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 e6 9.d3 Nge7 10.Bd2 0-0 11.a3 d5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Rb1 Qd7 14.Bg2 Rad8 15.b4 c4 16.b5 Nd4 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.e3 Nf3+ 20.Bxf3 Bxc3 21.dxc4 dxc4 22.Qa4 Qc5 23.Rbc1 Rd3 24.Be4 Rxe3 25.fxe3 Qxe3+ 26.Kh2 Be5 27.Bf3 Qg5 28.Rg1 Bxg3+ 29.Kh1 Qh4 30.Bg2 Be5 31.Qc2 c3 32.Qe2 Qg3 33.Bf1 Qf4 34.Re1 Bd6 35.Rg4 Qf6 36.Bg2 Rc8 37.Rf1 Qe5 38.Qxe5 Bxe5 39.Be4 Rc5 40.a4 Kg7 41.Bc2 h5 42.Rg5 b6 43.Rd1 Kh6 44.Rg2 Rc4 45.Rf2 f5 46.Re2 Rc5 47.Rd7 h4 48.Rxa7 Kg5 49.Rb7 Kf4 50.Rxb6 Kf3 51.Bd1 Kf4 52.Rxg6 Rd5 53.Bb3 Rd3 54.Kg2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxc4 2.Qe4#; 1…Ke3 2.Bxc5#; 1…Ke5 2.Qb2#./PN
