THE NUMBER of leaders in the ongoing 2021 Asian Hybrid Continental Chess Championship grew to five after Round 4 action on Monday, May 24, at the tornelo.com playing platform.
The five are GMs Nodirbek Yakubboev, Yinglun Xu, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Shanglei Lu, and Temur Kuybokarov, who each has 3½ points. The previous round’s co-leaders, Yakubboev and Xu, drew their game and enabled Maghami, Lu, and Kuybokarov – who defeated untitled Bobir Sattarov, Tin Jingyao, and Novendra Priasmoro, respectively – to join them
The five leaders are trailed by a logjam of 12 players half-a-point behind them, and this group include top seed GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2698) and 3rd seed GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2613). Meanwhile, Filipino IMs Daniel Quizon and John Marvin Miciano are in the next score group of 16 players with 2½ points apiece, while IM Michael Concio Jr. is stuck in the two-point score group sharing 34th to 51st places.
Lu, Shanglei (2615)-Jingyao, Tin (2482)
tornelo.com (4.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Bb7 8.d3 0-0 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 d6 12.c3 Ba7 13.axb5 axb5 14.Na3 b4 15.Nc4 bxc3 16.bxc3 Ne7 17.Qd2 Kg7 18.Ra5 c6 19.Rfa1 Bb6 20.Rxa8 Ba8 21.h4 g4 22.Nxd6 gxf3 23.Bxe5 Neg8 24.Qf4 Bb7 25.d4 Bc8 26.Ra8 1-0
Priasmoro, N (2502)-Kuybokarov, T (2549)
tornelo.com (4.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Nc3 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.d4 Bg4 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Ne2 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bc5 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Nf4 Nc6 14.h3 Be6 15.Ne1 Ne7 16.Ned3 Bd6 17.Qe2 Rae8 18.Rfe1 Ng6 19.Nh5 Qf5 20.f4 Bd7 21.Qf3 Re3 22.Rxe3 dxe3 23.g4 Qe4 24.f5 Ne5 25.Qxe4 dxe4 26.Bxe4 26…Re8 27.Re1 Nxg4 28.Bxb7 Nf2 29.Kg2 Nxd3 30.cxd3 Bxf5 31.Kf3 Bxh3 32.Nf4 Bxf4 33.Kxf4 g5+ 34.Kf3 h5 35.b4 f5 36.Bc6 Re7 37.b5 f4 38.a4 Bg4+ 39.Kg2 h4 40.Be4 Rxe4 41.dxe4 f3+ 0-1
Ghaem Maghami, E (2547)-Sattarov, Bo (2459)
tornelo.com (4.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.0-0 exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 10.Nd2 a6 11.a4 b6 12.Qc2 Nbd7 13.h3 Qc7 14.Rb1 Rb8 15.b3 Bb7 16.Bb2 Re7 17.f4 Rbe8 18.Kh2 Qb8 19.Bc4 Qd8 20.Rbe1 b5 21.axb5 Nb6 22.bxa6 Bxd5 23.Bb5 Nfd7 24.Nxd5 Nxd5 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Nc4 Qc7 27.exd5 1-0
Abdyjapar, A (2403)-Maghsoodloo, P (2698)
tornelo.com (4.8) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.Nc3 a6 7.d3 h6 8.a3 0-0 9.e3 Ba7 10.b4 Re8 11.Bb2 Be6 12.Re1 Qd7 13.Rc1 Ne7 14.d4 exd4 15.Nxd4 Bg4 16.Qd2 c6 17.b5 axb5 18.cxb5 Bb6 19.a4 Ba5 20.e4 Bh3 21.Nb3 Bb4 22.Qd4 c5 23.Qd3 Ng6 24.f4 Rac8 25.Nd2 c4 26.Qf1 Bxg2 27.Kxg2 d5 28.Rcd1 d4 29.Nxc4 Nxf4+ 30.Kh1 Qc7 31.Rxd4 Ne6 32.Red1 Nxd4 33.Rxd4 Bxc3 34.Bxc3 Rxe4 35.Ba5 Qe7 36.Qd3 Rxd4 37.Qxd4 Qe2 0-1
Navaratnam, RST (2071)-Quizon, D (2320)
tornelo.com (4.23) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.0-0 0-0 6.b3 c5 7.c4 Nc6 8.Bb2 Ne4 9.Nbd2 Bf5 10.Nh4 Nxd2 11.Qxd2 Bd7 12.dxc5 Bxb2 13.Qxb2 dxc5 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.Nf3 Rad8 16.Rd2 White offered a draw. 16…Bf5 17.Rad1 Be4 18.Nh4 Bxg2 19.Nxg2 Rxd2 20.Rxd2 Rd8 21.h4 Qa5 22.Rxd8+ Qxd8 23.Nf4 Qd1+ 24.Kg2 Nd4 25.Nd5 Nxe2 26.Qe5 Qg1+ 27.Kh3 h5 28.Nxe7+ Kh7 29.Qd5 Qxf2 30.Qg2 Ng1+ 31.Kh2 Nf3+ 32.Kh3 Qe3 33.Nd5 Qe6+ 34.g4 Ne5 35.Qe4 Qxg4+ 36.Qxg4 Nxg4 37.Kg3 Kg7 38.Kf4 f6 39.Nc7 Kh6 40.Nb5 g5+ 41.Kg3 Ne3 42.hxg5+ fxg5 43.Nxa7 h4+ 44.Kf3 h3 45.Kg3 g4 46.Nc8 Nf1+ 47.Kf2 h2 48.Kg2 g3 49.Nd6 Ne3+ 50.Kh1 Kg5 51.Nxb7 Kh4 52.Nxc5 Kh3 53.Nd3 g2# 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nd7/e6/g6 2.Q(x)e6#; 1…Nf6/g5, Qg4/f4/e4/d4/c4/a4/e1 2.Ne7# 1…Kxd5 2.c6#; 1…Qg5/f6/d8 2.Nb4#./PN
