ROUND 6 of the 2021 Asian Hybrid Continental Chess Championship at the tornelo.com playing platform proved to be another action-packed chapter that trimmed the number of leaders to just two GMs when the smoke of battle cleared.
GM Temur Kuybokarov of Australia and GM Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan trounced their respective Round 6 opponents to share the lead with three rounds left of the nine-round Swiss event. Kuybokarov upset 2nd seed GM Shanglei Lu in just 25 moves of a Ruy Lopez, while Yakubboev took more time in disposing upstart IM Mohamad Ervan in 58 moves of an Open Catalan. Both Kuybokarov and Yakukubboev now have five points each and clinging to a half-point lead over ten players breathing down their necks with 4½ points apiece.
The ten are GMs Yinglun Xu, M. Amin Tabatabaei, Parham Maghsoodloo, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Javokhir Sindarov, and IMs Sugar Gan-Erdene, Seyed Khalil Mousavi, Tin Jingyao, and Setyaki Azarya Jodi who share 3rd to 12th places. A group of seven players led by Lu are in next score group with four points apiece and sharing 13th to 19th places.
Except for Bacolod’s Ellan Asuela, Filipinos once again fared badly in Round 6 with IMs Daniel Quizon and John Marvin Miciano bowing down before their respective foes as did most of their compatriots. Asuela, on the other hand, moved up to a share of 20th to 33rd places after beating IM Uurtsaikh Agibeleg of Mongolia. Asuela now has 3½ points. However, with only three rounds left, the tournament appears over now for Quizon, Miciano, Asuela and the rest of the 15-man Filipino contingent.
Lu, Shanglei (2615)-Kuybokarov, T (2549)
tornelo.com (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.c3 d5 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Bd7 7.Qe3 a6 8.Ba4 dxe4 9.Qxe4 Bf5 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Qe3 Qd3 12.Nd4 Bg6 13.f3 0-0-0 14.Kf2 c5 15.Ne2 Nd5 16.Qxd3 Bxd3 17.Nf4 c4 18.b4 Be7 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.Re1 Bf6 21.Bb2 c5 22.a3 Bg6 23.Bc1 Rhd8 24.Be3 Rd1 25.bxc5 Bc2 0-1
Yakubboev, N (2605)-Ervan, M (2356)
tornelo.com (6.4) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Nc3 h6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.a5 Qe7 15.Rfe1 Bb4 16.Rec1 Bd6 17.Qd3 Bb4 18.e3 Rac8 19.Qc4 Bd6 20.Qb3 Rb8 21.Nd2 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Rfd8 23.Na4 e5 24.dxe5 Qxe5 25.Nc3 c6 26.Nf3 Qh5 27.Qc4 Nd7 28.Ne4 Qxf3+ 29.Kxf3 Ne5+ 30.Ke2 Nxc4 31.Rxc4 Be7 32.g4 Rd5 33.Nc3 Rd7 34.Rd1 Rbd8 35.Rxd7 Rxd7 36.f4 Kf8 37.b4 Ke8 38.Na4 Rd5 39.Nc5 Bxc5 40.bxc5 g5 41.e4 Rd7 42.f5 f6 43.Rb4 Re7 44.Ke3 Re5 45.Kd4 Re7 46.Rb3 Rd7+ 47.Ke3 Rh7 48.Rd3 h5 49.Rd6 Ke7 50.e5 fxe5 51.f6+ Ke8 52.Ke4 hxg4 53.Rd2 Rh3 54.Kxe5 g3 55.Ke6 Rh6 56.hxg3 g4 57.Rd1 Rh7 58.Rd4 1-0
Ghaem Maghami, E (2547)-Yoseph Theolifus, T (2455)
tornelo.com (6.5) 2021
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 Nxc3 9.Bc4 e6 10.bxc3 Bg7 11.Ba3 Bf8 12.Bxf8 Kxf8 13.Bb5 Qd6 14.0-0 Kg7 15.Rad1 Na5 16.Qb2 a6 17.Be2 b5 18.c4 Nxc4 19.Bxc4 bxc4 20.d5+ f6 21.dxe6 Qxe6 22.Rfe1 Qf7 23.Ne5 Qc7 24.Nd7 Qc6 25.Re7+ Kh6 26.Qd4 Qb5 27.Nxf6 Qg5 28.h4 Qb5 29.g4 g5 30.Rxh7+ Rxh7 31.Ng8+ 1-0
Pitra, A (2276)-Sindarov, J (2544)
tornelo.com (6.6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.d4 exd4 7.Qxd4 Ne7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 c5 10.Qc3 f6 11.Na3 g5 12.Bg3 Bg7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.e5 f5 15.h4 g4 16.Qe3 Rb8 17.Nc4 d5 18.Ng1 Qe8 19.Na3 d4 20.Qd2 Qa4 21.Ne2 Be6 22.c4 Bxc4 23.Nxc4 Qxc4+ 24.Kb1 Nc6 25.Rc1 Qb5 26.Rhe1 Rfd8 27.Nf4 c4 28.Ka1 c3 29.bxc3 dxc3 30.Qxc3 Nxe5 31.Rb1 Qc4 32.Ne2 Nd3 0-1
Mousavi, SK (2510)-Aditya Bagus, A (2274)
tornelo.com (6.7) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.Be2 a5 7.0-0 e6 8.a4 b4 9.e5 bxc3 10.exf6 gxf6 11.bxc3 Nd7 12.Bxc4 Nb6 13.Bd3 Nd5 14.Bd2 Bd6 15.Re1 Qc7 16.g3 Bb7 17.Qe2 Rd8 18.Nh4 h5 19.Be4 Kf8 20.c4 Nb4 21.Bc3 Ba6 22.Rac1 Kg7 23.Bf3 Rdg8 24.Bg2 Nd5 25.Ba1 Bf4 26.gxf4 Nxf4 27.Qf3 Kf8 28.h3 Rg5 29.Kh1 Rhg8 30.Rg1 Bc8 31.Bc3 c5 32.Bd2 Rg4 33.hxg4 Rxg4 34.Nf5 exf5 35.Bxf4 Rh4+ 36.Bh3 Rxf4 37.Qg2 cxd4 38.Qg8 Ke7 39.Rge1 Be6 40.Rxe6 1-0
Asuela, E (2248)-Agibileg, U (2413)
tornelo.com (6.21) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nge2 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bb4 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3 e5 9.Be3 d6 10.h3 Nd7 11.Qd2 Bc5 12.Be2 Bxe3 13.fxe3 Nc5 14.0-0 Rb8 15.b4 Rxb4 16.Nb5 Rxb5 17.cxb5 Nxe4 18.Qc2 Nc5 19.bxc6 0-0 20.Bc4 Qg5 21.Rad1 Bxh3 22.Rxd6 Qxe3+ 23.Kh2 Be6 24.Rxe6 Nxe6 25.Bxe6 Qh6+ 26.Bh3 Rc8 27.c7 e4 28.Rd1 Qf4+ 29.g3 Qxc7 30.Qxc7 Rxc7 31.Rd8# 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kb5/c4/d4/b6 2.Qxb4#; 1…Kd6, Na6/d3/a2/c2 2.Bf8#; 1…Nc6 2.Nb7#; 1…Nd5 2.Ne4#./PN
