Sports

Carlsen bags 8th Altibox Norway Chess

Friday, October 23, 2020

World champion Magnus Carlsen formally claimed the championship of the 8th Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in a rather anticlimactic finish to the Category 21 (average Elo: 2762) event in Stavanger, Norway, which Carlsen already bagged a round earlier.

Carlsen even had the luxury of losing his final game versus Levon Aronian, who defeated the Norwegian in 58 moves of a QGD Exchange. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the second-place finish of the 17-year-old prodigy Aliresa Firouzja who smashed Jan-Krzysztof Duda in 39 moves of an Anti-King’s Indian System.

This victory relegated Aronian to third spot and the struggling Fabiano Caruana, whose last two wins were in Armageddon, to fourth place. Carlsen thus pocketed the yop purse of 700,000 Norwegian Kroner (NOK), about US$74,624.62 in the current exchange rate, while Firouzja went home richer by 350,000 NOK ($39,444). Aronian pocketed 230,000 NOK, and Caruana 180,000 NOK.

The final standings: 1, Carlsen, 19½; 2. Firouzja, 18½; 3. Aronian, 17½; 4. Caruana, 15½; 5. Duda, 9½; 6. Tari, 3½.

Firouzja, A (2728)-Carlsen, M (2863) [A05]

Stavanger (9.1) 2020

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0-0 e5 5.e4 d6 6.c3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bg4 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Nc3 Bg7 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxd8+ Rxd8 13.Bxf3 0-0 14.Kg2 Nd4 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd5 Rd6 18.Rac1 Bd8 19.Rfd1 Kg7 20.Ne3 Ra6 21.a3 h5 22.Nc4 Bf6 23.h4 Rc8 24.Ne3 Rac6 25.Rxc6 Rxc6 26.Rd3 Bd8 27.Bd1 Rc1 28.Bb3 b5 29.Rd1 Rc8 30.Ba2 a5 31.Rd3 a4 32.Kf1 Bb6 33.Rc3 Rxc3 34.bxc3 Nb3 35.Ke1 Bc5 36.Nc2 Nc1 37.Bd5 Nd3+ 38.Ke2 Nxf2 39.Bc6 f6 40.Ne3 Nh1 41.Nf1 Bxa3 42.Bxb5 Bb2 43.Bxa4 Bxc3 44.Kf3 Bd4 45.g4 hxg4+ 46.Kxg4 Nf2+ 47.Kf3 Kh6 48.Ng3 Nd3 49.Be8 Nf4 50.Ne2 Ne6 51.Bf7 Nc5 52.Ng3 Bc3 53.h5 Be1 54.Bxg6 Bxg3 55.Kxg3 Kg5 56.Kf3 Nb3 57.Bf7 Nd4+ 58.Kg3 Ne2+ 59.Kf3 Nf4 60.Kg3 Nxh5+ 61.Bxh5 Kxh5 62.Kh3 Kh6 63.Kh4 Kg7 64.Kg3 Kf8 65.Kf2 Ke7 66.Ke2 Ke8 67.Ke3 Kd7 68.Kd3 Kd6 69.Kc3 Kc5 0-1

Duda, JK (2757)-Caruana, F (2828) [A09]

Stavanger (9.3A) 2020

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 c5 4.bxc5 Nc6 5.Ba3 e5 6.d3 Nf6 7.g3 e4 8.dxe4 Nxe4 9.Bg2 Bxc5 10.Bxc5 Nxc5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qc1 Qd6 15.Qa3 Rad8 16.h3 h6 17.Nh4 Bh7 18.Rac1 b6 19.Bd5 Re7 20.Ndf3 Qf6 21.Rcd1 Be4 22.Bxe4 Nxe4 23.Ng2 g5 24.Rd3 Nc5 25.Rd2 Ne4 26.Rc2 d3 27.Rb2 Nd4 28.Ne3 dxe2 29.Ng4 Nxf3+ 30.Kh1 Nxf2+ 0-1

Carlsen, M (2863)-Aronian, L (2767) [D37]

Stavanger (10.1) 2020

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 c6 7.Qc2 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nbd7 11.h4 a5 12.Kf1 a4 13.a3 Qb6 14.Qc2 h5 15.Bg5 0-0 16.Ne5 Rfe8 17.Bxf6 Nxf6 18.Rh3 Qb3 19.Qb1 Ne4 20.Nxe4 dxe4 21.Qxe4 Bd6 22.Rg3 Bxe5 23.dxe5 Qb5+ 24.Kg1 Rxe5 25.Qd4 Rd5 26.Qf6 Rf5 27.Qd4 Qe2 28.e4 Rb5 29.Rb1 Qc2 30.Qd3 Rc5 31.Qxc2 Rxc2 32.b3 b5 33.Rd3 axb3 34.Rbxb3 Ra4 35.Rdc3 Rc4 36.Rxc2 Rxc2 37.f3 Kf8 38.Kh2 Ke7 39.Kh3 Ke6 40.Rd3 Rc4 41.Kg3 Ke5 42.Rd7 Rc3 43.Ra7 f6 44.Ra8 Kd6 45.Kf4 Kc7 46.g4 Kb7 47.Rg8 hxg4 48.fxg4 Rxa3 49.Rxg6 b4 50.Rxf6 b3 51.Rf7+ Kb6 52.Rf8 Ra7 53.Rb8+ Rb7 54.Rd8 c5 55.Ke3 c4 56.Rd1 c3 57.Rb1 Kc5 58.Kd3 0-1

Firouzja, A (2728)-Duda, JK (2757) [D78]

Stavanger (10.2) 2020

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 c6 7.b3 dxc4 8.bxc4 c5 9.Bb2 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Qb6 11.Qc1 Bd7 12.Nd2 Nc6 13.Nc2 Rac8 14.Bc3 Qa6 15.Qb2 Nh5 16.Bxg7 Nxg7 17.Ne3 Be6 18.Nd5 Rfe8 19.Rfc1 Na5 20.e3 Nf5 21.e4 Ng7 22.Qa3 Nc6 23.Qxa6 bxa6 24.f4 Kf8 25.Kf2 Red8 26.Rab1 Ne8 27.Ke3 f6 28.a3 Bf7 29.Bh3 e6 30.Nb4 a5 31.Nxc6 Rxc6 32.c5 Nc7 33.Bf1 e5 34.fxe5 fxe5 35.Nf3 Be8 36.Rb7 Ne6 37.Rxa7 Nxc5 38.Nxe5 Rf6 39.Ng4 1-0

Caruana, F (2828)-Tari, A (2633) [C84]

Stavanger (10.3A) 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Bd2 0-0 9.h3 Rb8 10.Re1 h6 11.a3 Re8 12.Nc3 Bf8 13.Ne2 Be6 14.Ng3 d5 15.Qe2 dxe4 16.dxe4 Bxb3 17.cxb3 Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.b4 Nd7 20.Bf4 Rc8 21.Rad1 c5 22.bxc5 Nxc5 23.Qg4 Kh8 24.e5 Ne6 25.Nf5 Rc2 26.Nd6 Bxd6 27.exd6 Qf6 28.Bg3 Rd8 29.Bh4 g5 30.Bg3 Kh7 31.Qe4+ Qg6 32.Qb7 Rxb2 33.Qe7 Rg8 34.d7 Qh5 35.Rxe6 Qxd1+ 36.Kh2 Rb1 37.Qxf7+ Rg7 38.Qf5+ 1-0

*******

PUZZLERS