Ian Nepomniachtchi blazed through the second day of competitions at the preliminary round of the Airthings Masters, scoring 3½ points out of a possible four to grab the solo leadership of the rapid event.
Nepomniachtchi torched Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Andrey Esipenko and Alexandra Kosteniuk while drawing Vladislav Artemiev. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri barged into the magic eight circle by earning wins. Only Ramesbabu Praggnanandhaa spoiled Carlsen’s comeback by upsetting tha world champion.
Liren Ding and Eric Hansen are sharing 2nd to 3rd places, followed Andrey Esipenko in solo 4th spot and Levon Aronian, Vincent Keymer, Carlsen and Giri sharing 5th to 8th places.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 6½; 2-3. Ding, Hansen, 5½; 4. Esipenko, 5; 5-8. Aronian, Keymer, Carlsen, Giri, 4½; 9-11. Artemiev, Le, Abdusattorov, 4; 12-14. Praggnanandhaa, Niemann, Duda, 3; 15. Mamedyarov, 2½; 16. Kosteniuk, 0.
Nepomniachtchi,I (2773)-Abdusattorov,N (2651) [C50]
chess24.com (5.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.h3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Ne4 Bb6 10.a4 f6 11.b4 a6 12.a5 Ba7 13.Bd2 Kh8 14.Re1 Nce7 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.bxc5 Bf7 17.Rb1 Qc8 18.d4 Bh5 19.g4 Bxg4 20.hxg4 Qxg4+ 21.Kh1 Rad8 22.Rg1 Qf5 23.Qe2 Nc6 24.Rg2 Nf4 25.Bxf4 Qxf4 26.d5 e4 27.Nh2 Ne5 28.Bb3 Nf3 29.Qe3 Qh4 30.c4 f5 31.Bd1 Rfe8 32.Qc3 Rd7 33.Rxb7 e3 34.fxe3 Nxh2 35.Rxh2 Qe4+ 36.Rg2 Qh4+ 37.Kg1 f4 38.e4 Qe7 39.c6 Qc5+ 40.Kh1 Rf7 41.Bh5 f3 42.Bxf7 fxg2+ 43.Kxg2 Rf8 44.Rxc7 Qd6 45.Qg3 Qh6 46.Rb7 Qd2+ 47.Kh3 Qe2 48.Qxg7+ 1-0
Keymer,V (2664)-Giri,A (2772) [D38]
chess24.com (5.4) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Re8 8.Bd2 a6 9.a3 Bd6 10.h3 Bd7 11.Rd1 h6 12.c5 Bf8 13.Be2 e5 14.0-0 Qc8 15.Bc1 Bf5 16.Qb3 e4 17.Nh4 Be6 18.f3 Ne7 19.fxe4 Nxe4 20.Nxe4 dxe4 21.Bc4 c6 22.Rxf7 Kxf7 23.Rf1+ Nf5 24.Rxf5+ Kg8 25.Ng6 Bxc4 26.Qxc4+ Kh7 27.Qf7 Be7 28.b4 Qd8 29.Ne5 Rf8 30.Qg6+ Kg8 31.Nf7 Qe8 32.Nxh6+ Kh8 33.Nf7+ Kg8 34.Rh5 Rxf7 35.Qh7+ 1-0
Aronian,L (2772)-Ding,L (2799) [C59]
chess24.com (8.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nh3 Bd6 10.d3 0-0 11.Nd2 c5 12.0-0 Bc7 13.Kh1 Rb8 14.Ng1 Nc6 15.c3 Ne7 16.Ne4 Ng6 17.Nxc5 Nd5 18.Bf3 Nh4 19.Qa4 Nxf3 20.Nxf3 Rb6 21.Qh4 g5 22.Qe4 f5 23.Qc4 g4 24.Ng1 Kh7 25.b4 Rg6 26.Bd2 h5 27.Rae1 h4 28.f4 exf4 29.Ne2 f3 30.Nf4 Nxf4 31.Bxf4 fxg2+ 32.Kxg2 Bb6 33.Re5 Bxc5 34.bxc5 Ba6 35.Qd4 Bxd3 36.Rd1 Be4+ 37.Kg1 Qf6 38.Qd6 Rf7 39.Re8 Qxc3 40.Qd8 Rh6 41.Bxh6 Qxc5+ 42.Rd4 f4 43.Rh8+ Kg6 44.Qd6+ Qxd6 45.Rxd6+ Kf5 46.Rg8 Ke5 47.Rd1 g3 48.Re8+ Kf5 49.Bxf4 Kxf4 50.Rd4 1-0
Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Hansen,E (2606) [A45]
chess24.com (8.3) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.e4 Bxc5 6.Qe2 Be7 7.0-0-0 0-0 8.f4 Nc6 9.Ngf3 Qa5 10.Kb1 a6 11.e5 Nd7 12.h4 Qa4 13.g3 Nc5 14.Bxe7 Nxe7 15.Nb3 Ne4 16.Qe1 Bd7 17.Bd3 Rfd8 18.Ng5 Bc6 19.Nxe4 dxe4 20.Nc5 Qd4 21.Nxe4 Nf5 22.Nd6 Bxh1 23.Bxf5 Qb6 24.Bxh7+ Kxh7 25.Qxh1 Rd7 26.a3 Qc6 27.Qf1 Kg8 28.h5 Rad8 29.Rd3 f5 30.Qd1 Qg2 31.c3 Kh7 32.Ka2 b5 33.Qb3 Re7 34.Qb4 Rc7 35.Rd4 Rdd7 36.Rd3 Qe2 37.Rd4 Qg2 38.Qb3 Re7 39.Rd3 Qe2 40.Qd1 Qg2 41.Qe1 Rc5 42.Rd2 Qf3 43.Qg1 Rd5 44.Rf2 Rd1 45.Rxf3 Rxg1 46.Rd3 Kh6 47.Kb3 Kxh5 48.Kb4 Kg4 49.Ka5 Rxg3 50.Rd1 Kxf4 51.Kxa6 Kxe5 52.Nxb5 f4 53.Re1+ Re3 54.Rg1 Kf6 0-1
Carlsen,M (2865)-Praggnanandhaa,R (2612) [D40]
chess24.com (8.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 cxd4 8.exd4 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 h6 11.Re1 Bf5 12.Ne5 Rc8 13.Bf4 Re8 14.Rc1 Qb6 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Na4 Qa6 17.Re3 Ne4 18.f3 Ng5 19.Rec3 Qb7 20.Bh2 Ne6 21.Nxc6 Nf4 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.dxe5 Nd3 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Rxc8+ Qxc8 26.Bg3 d4 27.b3 Qc6 28.Qd2 Kh7 29.Kh2 Bg6 30.Qa5 Qc1 31.Qxa7 Qe3 32.Nc3 Nf4 33.Nd1 Qd2 34.Nf2 Ne2 35.h4 Qe1 36.Qd7 Nxg3 37.Qxd4 Nf1+ 38.Kh3 Ne3 39.Qb2 Bc2 0-1
Nepomniachtchi,I (2773)-Kosteniuk,A (2516) [C36]
chess24.com (8.8) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bb5+ c6 6.dxc6 Nxc6 7.Nc3 Bd6 8.Qe2+ Be6 9.Nd4 0-0 10.Nxe6 Qa5 11.Nxg7 Kxg7 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.0-0 Rae8 14.Qf3 Nh5 15.d4 Qf5 16.g4 Qg6 17.Kh1 Nf6 18.Bxf4 Bxf4 19.Qxf4 Nxg4 20.h3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxe3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxc5 2.Rd8#; 1…Rd4 2.Rf5#; 1…Bd4 2.Bg2#; 1…Rxe3 2.Nxe3#.
