Ian Nepomniachtchi is in a roll at the preliminary round of the Airthings Masters Tournament being played at the chess24.com playing server.
With just three rounds to go, Nepomniachtchi closed out the 3rd day of the tournament with flourish, chalking two wins – against Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and against Hans Moke Niemann – and two draws against Vincent Keymer and Le Quang Liem to further increase his lead to two points over 2nd running Vladislav Artemiev.
Liren Ding , Eric Hansen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer share 3rd to 8th places 2½ points away from Nepomniachtchi. Only the top eight players will advance to the knockout semfinals.
Standings after Round 12: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 9½; 2. Artemiev, 7½; 3-8. Ding, Hansen, Abdusattorov, Giri, Carlsen, Keymer, 7; 9-10. Aronian, Esipenko, 6½; 11-12. Le, Praggnanandhaa, 5½; 13-14. Duda, Mamedyarov, 4½; 15. Niemann, 4; 16. Kosteniuk, 0.
Duda,J-K (2760)-Aronian,L (2772) [D39]
chess24.com (9.8) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.a4 c5 8.axb5 cxd4 9.Nxd4 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Bxc4 0-0 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Qb3 Bc5 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Bxe6+ Kh8 16.Bd5 Qe7 17.Kh1 Bxd5 18.Nxd5 Qf7 19.f4 Nd7 20.Rac1 Bb6 21.Qf3 Rad8 22.Rc6 Qe8 23.Rd6 Bc5 24.Nc7 Qe7 25.Re6 Qf7 26.Qc3 Bb6 27.Rxh6+ Kg8 28.Rc6 Nf6 29.Qc2 Ng4 30.Ne6 Ne3 31.Qe2 Nxf1 32.Qxf1 Qxe6 33.Rxe6 Rxf4 34.Re8+ Kh7 35.Qc1 Be3 36.Rxd8 Bxc1 37.g3 Rxe4 38.Rd7 Be3 39.Kg2 Rb4 40.Kf3 Bb6 41.Rd5 Rxb2 42.h4 Rb3+ 43.Kg2 Rc3 0-1
Giri,A (2772)-Ding,L (2799) [A07]
chess24.com (10.3) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Nc6 6.e4 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bg4 9.c3 Nf6 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Re1 Rad8 12.Nc4 Rfe8 13.h3 Bc8 14.b4 b5 15.Nb2 a5 16.a4 axb4 17.axb5 bxc3 18.bxc6 cxb2 19.Bxb2 Rd6 20.Nxe5 Nh5 21.Ra8 Bd7 22.Rea1 Bc8 23.R1a7 1-0
Carlsen,M (2865)-Hansen,E (2606) [C99]
chess24.com (10.4) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3 a5 15.Be3 a4 16.Nbd2 Nb4 17.Bb1 Bd7 18.a3 Nc6 19.Qe2 Qb7 20.Bd3 Rab8 21.Rec1 exd4 22.Nxd4 Ne5 23.Bc2 Rfe8 24.Re1 h6 25.Rad1 Bf8 26.Bb1 b4 27.f4 Ng6 28.Bd3 bxa3 29.bxa3 Qb2 30.Rb1 Nxf4 31.Qf1 Qc3 32.Bb5 Ng6 33.Bxa4 0-1
Esipenko,A (2714)-Praggnanandhaa R (2612) [B31]
chess24.com (10.6) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 e5 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.a4 g5 8.d3 g4 9.Nfd2 Be6 10.Nc4 Ne7 11.Be3 b6 12.a5 Rb8 13.axb6 axb6 14.Nbd2 Qc7 15.Rf1 Ng6 16.f3 h5 17.Qe1 0-0 18.fxg4 hxg4 19.Bg5 f6 20.Be3 Ra8 21.Qg3 b5 22.Rxa8 Rxa8 23.Na3 c4 24.dxc4 b4 25.Nab1 Ra2 26.Nb3 Rxb2 27.N1d2 Rxc2 28.Nc5 Bc8 29.Qe1 Qd6 30.g3 Bf8 31.Ncb3 Kg7 32.Qf2 Be7 33.Ra1 Be6 34.Bc5 Qd8 35.Bxe7 Nxe7 36.Qc5 Bf7 37.Qxb4 c5 38.Qa5 Qd3 39.Rf1 Qe3+ 40.Kh1 Bxc4 41.Qd8 Kf7 42.Ra1 Bxb3 0-1
Nepomniachtchi,I (2773)-Niemann,HM (2642) [C55]
chess24.com (10.7) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.Nc3 d6 6.d4 Bg4 7.Bb5 exd4 8.Qxd4 Qd7 9.Qa4 Bxf3 10.gxf3 a6 11.Be3 Rd8 12.Bxc6 Qxc6 13.Qb3 Be7 14.Rg1 g6 15.0-0-0 b5 16.Bd4 Rf8 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Bh8 19.f4 Qc4 20.Qxc4 bxc4 21.Nxc7+ Kd7 22.Nxa6 c3 23.b4 Kc6 24.a4 Kb6 25.b5 d5 26.Rxd5 Rxd5 27.exd5 Ka5 28.Re1 Kxa4 29.Nc7 Rd8 30.b6 Ka5 31.b7 Rb8 32.Re8 Rxb7 33.d6 Bf6 34.Ra8+ 1-0
Carlsen,M (2865)-Duda,J-K (2760) [B23]
chess24.com (12.3) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Be3 Nc6 6.Qd2 d6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Nge2 Be6 9.Nf4 0-0 10.h4 Ne5 11.h5 Bc4 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Nd3 Be6 14.Bh6 Nh5 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Rxh5 gxh5 17.Nxe5 dxe5 18.Qg5+ Kh7 19.Qxh5+ Kg8 20.Bd3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nd8/xd6/a5/c5 2.Q(x)c5#; 1…Ne7/g7/xd6/h6/d4/h4/e3/g3 2.N(x)e3#; 1…Kd5 2.c4#; 1…e3 2.Nb2#.
