Reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen joined the preliminary leaderboard of the Airthings Masters being played at the chess24.com server after scoring one of the only three decisive games in the second day of competitions.
The preliminary phase of the event is played over three days at four games each day, except on the third and final day where three games will be played.
Carlsen temporarily unsaddled Daniil Dubov from the leaderboard after defeating him in Round 5, but Dubov rejoined the leaders by beating Anish Giri in Round 6. The other decision was made by Giri who trounced Pentala Harikrishna in Round 5. The other leaders – Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So – had a peaceful day and drew all their second day games.
The top eight players in the preliminaries will advance to the knockout phase of the tournament. With three rounds left as it is, it’s still hard to tell who among the 12 players will make it to the knockout round of 8. Of course, the odds lean toward the leaders.
The standings after Round 8: 1-6. Dubov, Nakamura, Aronian, Carlsen, Radjabov, So, 4½; 7-9. Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi, 4; 9-10. Vachier-Lagrave, Harikrishna, 3½; 11-12. Giri, Anton Guijarro, 3.
Carlsen, M (2862)-Dubov, D (2702) [B31]
chess24.com (5.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Bxc6 bxc6 6.Re1 Nh6 7.c3 0-0 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 f6 11.h3 fxe5 12.dxe5 c5 13.b4 cxb4 14.a3 d4 15.axb4 Bb7 16.Nbd2 a5 17.Rxa5 Rxa5 18.bxa5 Qxa5 19.Nxd4 Nf5 20.N4f3 Qd5 21.Bb2 Bh6 22.e6 Rd8 23.Qe2 Qd3 24.Qxd3 Rxd3 25.Ne4 Bxe4 26.Rxe4 Bg7 27.Be5 Bxe5 28.Nxe5 Rd1+ 29.Kh2 Kg7 30.g4 Nd6 31.Re3 g5 32.Kg2 h6 33.Nc6 Kf6 34.Rf3+ Kxe6 35.Re3+ Kf6 36.Nxe7 Nc4 37.Re4 Nd6 38.Re2 Rd3 39.Nc6 Nf7 40.Re3 Rd7 41.Ra3 Nh8 42.Nb8 Rb7 43.Ra6+ Kg7 44.Nc6 Ng6 45.Nd4 Nh4+ 46.Kg3 Rb1 47.f4 Rg1+ 48.Kf2 Rg2+ 49.Kf1 Rd2 50.Ne6+ Kf7 51.fxg5 Nf3 52.g6+ Ke7 53.Ra3 Nh2+ 54.Ke1 Rd6 55.Nf4 Kf6 56.Ke2 Rd7 57.Ra6+ Ke5 58.Nh5 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Harikrishna, P (2732) [D47]
chess24.com (5.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.e4 e5 11.Bg5 Qc7 12.0-0-0 a6 13.Kb1 0-0-0 14.Rhf1 h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.Bg3 c5 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Bxb5 axb5 19.Rxd6 Qxd6 20.Bxe5 Qe6 21.Ka1 Qc4 22.Rc1 Bxe4 23.b3 Qb4 24.Qb2 Bxf3 25.Bxf6 Bxg2 26.Bxh8 Kb7 27.Be5 Bf3 28.Qc2 Rd7 29.Qf5 Bc6 30.Nb1 Qe4 31.Qxe4 Bxe4 32.Nc3 Bd3 33.Bg7 h5 34.Bf6 g4 35.Re1 Kc6 36.Re7 Rxe7 37.Bxe7 f5 38.Kb2 f4 39.a3 Bf5 40.Ne2 1-0
Dubov, D (2702)-Giri, A (2764) [C67]
chess24.com (6.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nbd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.c3 Be7 10.f4 0-0 11.Be3 f6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Nd2 Ba6 14.Rf3 fxe5 15.fxe5 Qd7 16.Nb3 Rxf3 17.Qxf3 Rf8 18.Qg3 Qf5 19.h3 Qc2 20.Bc5 Qxb3 21.Bxe7 Rf7 22.Bc5 Bc8 23.Qg5 h5 24.Qd8+ Kh7 25.Qxc8 Qxb2 26.Rf1 Rxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Qc1+ 28.Kf2 Qd2+ 29.Kg1 Qe1+ 30.Kh2 Qxe5+ 31.Kh1 Qxc3 32.Qf5+ Kg8 33.Bg1 a5 34.Qxh5 Qc4 35.Qe8+ Kh7 36.Qe5 c5 37.Qxc7 d4 38.Qxa5 Qc1 39.Qd8 Qc3 40.a5 d3 41.a6 d2 42.a7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D85]
chess24.com (6.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Rxb7 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bxd4 15.e5 Na6 16.Rxe7 Rad8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qe1 Nc5 19.Be3 Nd3 20.Bxd4 Nxe1 21.Rg7+ Kh8 22.Rd7+ Kg8 23.Rg7+ Kh8 24.Rd7+ Kg8 25.Rg7+ ½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-So, Wesley (2770) [C88]
chess24.com (8.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.d3 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nbd2 Qc8 13.c3 Rb8 14.Nc4 Rb5 15.Bd2 Nd7 16.d4 bxc3 17.bxc3 Qe8 18.dxe5 Ndxe5 19.Ncxe5 Nxe5 20.Nd4 Rb2 21.Nxe6 Nf3+ 22.gxf3 Qg6+ 23.Kh1 Qxe6 24.Rg1 Bf6 25.Be3 Be5 26.Rg2 Qf7 27.Bd4 Qxf3 28.Bxe5 Qxd1+ 29.Rxd1 dxe5 30.Rd7 Rf7 31.Rd8+ Rf8 32.Rd7 Rf7 33.Rd8+ Rf8 34.Rd7 ½-½
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bh2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sxb4 2.Rd4#; 1…Sxf4 2.Bxf4#; 1…Bxd5 2.Sxd3#./PN
