The semifinal round of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour got underway Sunday, August 9th, at the chess24.com server with the four highest scorers from the first four legs of the Tour fighting for the lion’s share of the more than a quarter of a million dollars in cash prizes.
The four players are world champion Magnus Carlsen, Liren Ding, Hikaru Nakamura, and Daniil Dubov. The semifinal matches pit Carlsen against Ding and Nakamura versus Dubov. They will play a best-of-5 series of matches with the player winning 3 matches declared the winner.
In the first match played Sunday, Ding and Nakamura won their opening matches by defeating Carlsen and Dubov, respectively, on tiebreak games. Ding won via an Armageddon draw, while Nakamura won by beating Dubov in the blitz tiebreaks. Carlsen and Ding traded wins in regulation and in the blitz tie-breaks before the Chinese GM got the draw with the black pieces in the Armageddon to take the match. Nakamura and Dubov also traded wins in regulation before Nakamura won the second game of the blitz tie-breaks and the match.
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B90]
chess24.com (1.11) 2020 The Final is a best-of-7 series, as above; the player to win 4 matches is the winner of the Tour.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 h5 8.Qd2 Be7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.a3 Bd7 11.Kb1 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Bf4 e5 14.Bg5 Qb6 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Ke7 18.c4 Rac8 19.cxb5 Rc5 20.Qb3 axb5 21.a4 Rhc8 22.Bxb5 Bg5 23.Rd3 h4 24.Rhd1 Rc1+ 25.Ka2 Rxd1 26.Rxd1 Bf4 27.h3 Be3 28.Bc4 Qxb3+ 29.Kxb3 Bd4 30.Rd2 f5 31.Rc2 fxe4 32.fxe4 Kf6 33.Bb5 Rb8 34.Kb4 Kg5 35.a5 Kf4 36.Re2 Rc8 37.a6 Bc5+ 38.Ka5 Ba7 39.b3 Rc1 40.Bc4 Ra1+ 41.Kb5 Rb1 42.Kc6 Bc5 43.Kb7 Ra1 44.b4 1-0
Dubov, D (2699)-Nakamura, H (2736) [E21]
chess24.com (1.11) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.Rc1 h6 7.Bh4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.cxd5 g5 10.Bg3 Nxd5 11.e3 Qa5 12.Bd3 Rd8 13.0-0 Nxc3 14.Qh5 Bf8 15.Rxc3 e5 16.Bc4 Qc7 17.Bxe5 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Ding, L (2791) [D02]
chess24.com (1.12) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 e6 5.c3 Bd6 6.Nbd2 cxd4 7.Bxd6 dxe3 8.Ba3 exd2+ 9.Qxd2 Nc6 10.Qg5 Rg8 11.Bd3 h6 12.Qe3 Qb6 13.Qe2 Bd7 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.b4 Kb8 16.b5 Na5 17.Ne5 Be8 18.Bb4 Rc8 19.a4 Ne4 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Qxe4 f6 22.Qh7 Nb3 23.Qxg8 Nxa1 24.Qxe8 1-0
Nakamura, Hikaru (2736) – Dubov, Daniil (2699) [B60]
Carlsen Tour Final 2020 chess24.com INT (1.12), 09.08.2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 e6 9.0-0-0 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 h6 11.Bh4 Be7 12.Bc4 b5 13.Bb3 a5 14.a4 b4 15.Ne2 0-0 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qxd6 Ra7 18.Ng3 Qe8 19.Nh5 Bxa4 20.Bc4 Qb8 21.Nxf6+ gxf6 22.Qg3+ Kh7 23.Rd4 e5 24.Rd2 Rc7 25.b3 Bb5 26.Bd5 a4 27.Qh3 Rfc8 28.Kb1 axb3 29.Bxb3 Ra7 30.Qf5+ Kg7 31.Qg4+ Kf8 32.Rhd1 Ke7 33.Qg7 Be8 34.Rd6 Qc7 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2863) [B13]
chess24.com (1.15) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.Nd2 e6 9.Ngf3 Be7 10.0-0 Bh5 11.Rae1 Bg6 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.h4 Nh5 14.Bg5 f6 15.Be3 Qc7 16.Qc2 Kf7 17.Nb3 Bd6 18.Nc1 Rae8 19.Re2 Ne7 20.Nd3 Nf5 21.Bc1 Nf4 22.Bxf4 Bxf4 23.g3 Bd6 24.Qd2 Re7 25.a3 Ke8 26.Qe1 Kd7 27.Kg2 Kc8 28.Rh1 Rhe8 29.Nb4 Kb8 30.Nc2 Qb6 31.Qc1 a5 32.Ne3 Qc6 33.Rd1 Bc7 34.Qc2 Bb6 35.Qd3 a4 36.Nc2 Bc7 37.Nb4 Qd6 38.Rg1 Qd7 39.Rge1 Rh8 40.c4 dxc4 41.Qxc4 Bd6 42.Rxe6 Bxb4 43.axb4 Rxe6 44.Qxe6 Qxe6 45.Rxe6 Rd8 46.Re4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nb4! Black’s futile options are 1…f5 2.Bg7#; 1…Re5 2.Qxe3#; 1…Rd5, Sd5 2.Sc6#; 1…Rh4 2.Qxf6#; 1…Bd3 2.Sb3#; 1…Bd5 2.Se2#./PN
