As expected, Ian Nepomniachtchi dominated the preliminary stage of the Airthings Masters event over at the chess24.com playing server and is one of eight players who qualified for the knockout stage. Seven other players are joining Nepomniachtchi in the knockouts, and these are Magnus Carlsen, Vladislav Artemiev, Andrey Esipenko, Eric Hansen, Liren Ding, Le Quang Liem, and Vincent Keymer.
Nepomniachtchi will be facing Keymer, Hansen will duel with Esipenko, Artemiev will joust with ding, while Carlsen will test the mettle of Le Quang Liem. Each knock our match will go for four games.
The final preliminary standings: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 29; 2. Carlsen, 25; 3-4. Artemiev, Esipenko, 24; 5. Hansen, 23; 6-8. Ding, Le, Keymer, 22; 9-10. Aronian, Giri, 21; 11-12. Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa, 19; 13-14. Duda, Mamedyarov, 17; 15. Niemann, 15; 16. Kosteniuk, 3.
Hansen,E (2606)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2773) [B40]
chess24.com (13.4) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Qe2 d5 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 0-0 9.b3 Nd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.Nc3 Rd8 12.Rd1 e5 13.Bb2 Bg4 14.Bf3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 e4 16.Qe2 Bf8 17.d3 exd3 18.Rxd3 Qb4 19.Rad1 Rxd3 20.Rxd3 Re8 21.Qf3 h6 22.Kg2 Re6 23.Rd8 Qb6 24.Rb8 Rc6 25.Nd5 Nxd5 26.Qxd5 Qc7 27.Be5 Qe7 28.c4 Re6 29.Bf4 Rc6 30.h4 Kh7 31.h5 g5 32.hxg6+ Kxg6 33.Be5 f6 34.Bf4 Bg7 35.g4 Qe6 36.Qh5+ Kh7 37.Rxb7 Qe4+ 38.Kg3 f5 39.Qxf5+ Qxf5 40.gxf5 Kg8 41.Rxa7 Bd4 42.Be3 Bc3 43.Kg4 Kf8 44.Bf4 Bd4 45.Be3 Bc3 46.Rd7 Kg8 47.Rd5 Ra6 48.Rxc5 Rxa2 49.Rb5 Kf7 50.Rb7+ Kf6 51.Rb6+ Kf7 52.c5 Ra1 53.Rxh6 1-0
Ding,L (2799)-Esipenko,A (2714) [A28]
chess24.com (13.5) 2022
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 Bb4 5.d3 a6 6.Be2 d6 7.h3 Bc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Qd2 h6 11.Bd1 Nh7 12.Bxd4 exd4 13.Ne2 Qf6 14.Ng3 b5 15.Rc1 bxc4 16.Rxc4 Be6 17.e5 Qe7 18.exd6 cxd6 19.Ra4 Bd7 20.Re1 Qd8 21.Rc4 a5 22.a3 Be6 23.Rc2 Nf6 24.b4 axb4 25.axb4 Bb6 26.Ne4 Nxe4 27.dxe4 Qf6 28.Rc6 Ra2 29.Qd3 Qd8 30.Bb3 Ra3 31.Rb1 Qb8 32.Qb5 Bxb3 33.Rxb6 Qa8 34.Re1 Bc2 35.Nxd4 Bxe4 36.f3 Ra1 37.Qf1 Rxe1 38.Qxe1 Qd8 39.Ra6 Bb7 40.Ra3 Qb6 41.Qe3 Bc8 42.Nc2 Qb8 43.Qd4 Be6 44.Ne3 Rc8 45.Ra6 Rc1+ 46.Kf2 d5 47.f4 Rb1 48.Rb6 Qc7 49.b5 Qc1 50.Rb8+ Kh7 51.Qd3+ f5 52.Kf3 d4 53.Qxd4 Rb3 54.Kf2 Rb2+ 55.Kf3 Rd2 56.Qe5 Qe1 57.Nxf5 Qf2+ 58.Kg4 Qxg2+ 59.Kh4 g5+ 0-1
Carlsen,M (2865)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [E68]
chess24.com (14.2) 2022
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.h3 a6 11.Re1 Rb8 12.a4 a5 13.Be3 c6 14.Qc2 Nc5 15.b3 Nfd7 16.Rab1 Na6 17.f4 Ndc5 18.Qd2 Nb4 19.Kh2 h5 20.Re2 Qf6 21.Qd1 Bd7 22.Rd2 Rbd8 23.Nde2 Bc8 24.Bd4 Qe7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Nd4 Qf6 27.Qf3 Re7 28.Rbd1 Rde8 29.Qe3 Kg8 30.Nde2 Re6 31.e5 Qe7 32.Nd4 dxe5 33.Nxe6 Bxe6 34.Rd6 Nxb3 35.fxe5 Bf5 36.e6 Bc2 37.exf7+ Qxf7 38.Ne4 1-0
Kosteniuk,A (2516)-Hansen,E (2606) [C54]
chess24.com (14.6) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nbd2 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 Bxd2 11.Bxd2 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nb6 14.Bd3 Nxd4 15.Qxb7 Rb8 16.Qe4 f5 17.Qe3 c5 18.Rad1 Nd5 19.Bc4 Kh8 20.Qe5 Nb6 21.Ba2 Re8 22.Qxc5 Na4 23.Qd5 Nxb2 24.Rb1 Qf6 25.Rfe1 Red8 26.Qa5 Nd3 27.Rxb8 Rxb8 28.Qxa7 Rf8 29.Re3 Nc6 30.Qb7 Nc5 31.Qb6 Ne4 32.Rd3 Rb8 33.Qc7 Qa1+ 34.Kh2 Nxf2 35.Qxb8+ 1-0
Praggnanandhaa,R (2612)-Artemiev,V (2700) [C55]
chess24.com (15.1) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 d6 7.a4 h6 8.a5 a6 9.Nc3 Re8 10.h3 Bf8 11.d4 exd4 12.Nxd4 d5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.exd5 Rxe1+ 16.Qxe1 cxd5 17.Bf1 c5 18.Bf4 Bb7 19.Qc3 Bc6 20.Rd1 Bb5 21.Bxb5 axb5 22.Qe5 Qxa5 23.Rxd5 Qa2 24.Rd7 g6 25.Qe4 Bg7 26.b3 Rf8 27.Bd6 Qa8 28.Qf4 Qe8 29.Re7 Qa8 30.Rc7 Qd8 31.Bxf8 Qxf8 32.Rb7 1-0
Aronian,L (2772)-Esipenko,A (2714) [C50]
chess24.com (15.6) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 h6 7.c3 d6 8.Nbd2 Bb6 9.Bb3 Ng4 10.Re2 Na5 11.Bc2 f5 12.h3 Nf6 13.d4 fxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Rxe4 Bf5 16.Re1 Bxc2 17.Qxc2 exd4 18.Bxh6 Rxf3 19.gxf3 Qh4 20.Bc1 d3 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe1!, and Blackās futile options are: 1…Nxa6 2.Rxa6#; 1…Nc6, Qd3/c3/f1/e2/b7+ 2.N(x)b7#; 1…Qa8 2.Rc4#.
