The preliminary stage of the Opera Euro Rapid played at chess24.com server ended on Monday with Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri topping the stage and leading six others in advancing to the knockout quarterfinals.
Advancing with Carlsen and Giri are Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Teimour Radjabov, and Daniil Dubov.
Booted out of the competition were Liren Ding, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Sam Shankland, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Alexander Grischuk, and Matthias Bluebaum. It was a real heartbreaker for Nepomniachtchi who was in 4th place at the end of the second day until his string of three losses and two draws in the final day did him in. Nakamura was also in the cusp of qualifying when, needing only a draw, a shock got beating instead in the final round against compatriot Shankland. The quarterfinal knockout matches will pit Carlsen vs. Dubov, Giri vs. Radjabov, Wesley vs. Duda, and Aronian vs. Vachier-Lagrave.
Preliminary final standings after Round 10: 1-2. Carlsen, Giri, 9½; 3. So, 9; 4-5; Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave, 8½; 6-7. Duda, Radjabov; 8-9. Dubov, Nakamura, 7½; 10-11. Shankland, Nepomniachtchi, 7; 12-14. Vidit, Dominguez Perez, Grischuk, 6½; 15. Bluebaum, 5½; 6. Ding, 5.
Vidit, SG (2726)-Carlsen, M (2862) [D30]
chess24.com (11.7) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.e3 f5 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.b3 Qe7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Qc1 b6 10.Ba3 Bb7 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Qa3 Qxa3 13.Nxa3 g6 14.Rfc1 Nbd7 15.cxd5 exd5 16.Nc2 a5 17.a4 Ne4 18.g3 Kg7 19.Nce1 Rfc8 20.Rc2 c5 21.Bb5 Nf8 22.Rac1 Kf6 23.Nd3 cxd4 24.Nxd4 Rxc2 25.Rxc2 Rc8 26.Rxc8 Bxc8 27.Bc6 Nc3 28.b4 Ne6 29.Nb3 Nd8 30.Ba8 Ba6 31.Nf4 axb4 32.Nxd5+ Nxd5 33.Bxd5 Ne6 34.a5 bxa5 35.Nxa5 Nc5 36.f4 Bb5 37.Kf2 Bd7 38.e4 fxe4 39.Ke3 Be6 40.Bxe6 Kxe6 41.Kd4 b3 42.Nc4 Na4 0-1
Dubov, D (2710)-Ding, L (2791) [D02]
chess24.com (12.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.Bg2 a5 7.a3 Bxd2+ 8.Bxd2 0-0 9.Qc2 b5 10.a4 c6 11.h4 Nbd7 12.h5 h6 13.g4 Nxg4 14.axb5 Bb7 15.Nh2 Nxf2 16.Kxf2 Qh4 17.Kf1 Qf6 18.Bf3 1-0
Grischuk, A (2777)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [C28]
chess24.com (13.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d3 Bc5 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 exf4 7.Bxf4 d6 8.Na4 d5 9.Nxc5 dxc4 10.Qd2 Qe7 11.Na4 cxd3 12.cxd3 Nxe4 13.dxe4 Qxe4+ 14.Qe3 Re8 15.Nc3 Qxe3+ 16.Bxe3 Rxe3+ 17.Kf2 Rd3 18.Rhd1 Rxd1 19.Rxd1 Be6 20.Nb5 Rc8 21.a3 a6 22.Nc3 Rd8 23.Rc1 Bd5 24.Ne1 Kf8 25.b4 Bc4 26.Nf3 Rd3 27.Ne4 Bd5 28.Nc5 Rxa3 29.Nxb7 Bxf3 30.gxf3 Ne5 31.Rxc7 Rxf3+ 32.Ke2 Rb3 33.Nd6 Rxb4 34.Nf5 Rb8 35.Ke3 g6 36.Ke4 gxf5+ 37.Kxe5 Ra8 38.Kf6 Kg8 0-1
Ding, L (2791)-Carlsen, M (2862) [E10]
chess24.com (13.8) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 b6 7.e3 Bb7 8.Bd3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 d6 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Nd2 g5 12.Bg3 h5 13.h3 h4 14.Bh2 g4 15.hxg4 h3 16.g3 Rg8 17.f3 Qe7 18.e4 0-0-0 19.Rf2 Nh7 20.a4 a5 21.Rb1 Rde8 22.Nf1 f5 23.exf5 exf5 24.Bxf5 Ng5 25.c5 Kb8 26.cxb6 Nxb6 27.d5 Ba6 28.Qd4 Ka7 29.f4 Ne4 30.Re1 Nxf2 31.Rxe7 Rxe7 32.Kxf2 Re2+ 33.Kf3 Rge8 34.Bd3 Bxd3 35.Qxd3 Rg2 36.g5 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-Ding, L (2791) [B90]
chess24.com (14.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Rg1 b5 7.a4 b4 8.Nd5 Nxe4 9.Bc4 e6 10.Qe2 Nc5 11.c3 Be7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.cxb4 Ncd7 14.Bd2 Ne5 15.Bb3 0-0 16.0-0-0 Nbc6 17.Nc2 Rb8 18.Bc3 Ng6 19.g3 e5 20.Bd5 Qd7 21.f4 Bb7 22.Bb3 exf4 23.gxf4 Qf5 24.Qd2 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2789)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [E48]
chess24.com (15.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nge2 Re8 8.Bd2 Bd6 9.Rc1 c6 10.0-0 Na6 11.f3 c5 12.Kh1 Nc7 13.g4 b6 14.Ng3 g6 15.Nce2 Bb7 16.g5 Nd7 17.h4 Nf8 18.Kg2 Ba6 19.Bxa6 Nxa6 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.e4 d4 22.Qa4 Nc7 23.b4 Nce6 24.bxc5 Bxc5 25.Rfd1 Rb8 26.Bc3 Qb6 27.Ba1 Red8 28.Rd3 Qb7 29.Rcd1 Bb6 30.Qb4 Qa6 31.Qa3 Qc4 32.f4 Qc6 33.Qc1 Qb7 34.Kh2 Rbc8 35.Qb2 Qc7 36.Rc1 Qb8 37.Rf1 Bc7 38.Qd2 Qb5 39.Rb3 Qa6 40.f5 Nc5 41.fxg6 hxg6 42.Rbf3 Nxe4 43.Qb2 Be5 44.Kg2 Nxg3 45.Nxg3 Qc6 46.Kg1 Rb8 47.Qf2 Qd5 48.h5 Ne6 49.Qd2 d3 50.Bxe5 Qxe5 51.hxg6 fxg6 52.Re3 Qxg5 53.Rfe1 Nf4 54.Kh2 Qh4+ 55.Kg1 Nh3+ 56.Kg2 Nf4+ 57.Kg1 Rf8 58.Rf1 Nh3+ 59.Kg2 Nf4+ 60.Kg1 Ne2+ 61.Nxe2 Rxf1+ 62.Kxf1 Rf8+ 63.Kg2 Rf2+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nbxc5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bb5 2.axb5#; 1…dxc5 2.Qxc5#; 1…d5 2.Qxd7#; 1…cxd3 2.Sxa6#; 1…c3 2.Sb4#./PN
