The World Rapid Open Championship got underway Sunday, December 26th, in Warsaw, Poland, with 176 players from all over the planet vying for US$350,000 in prize money.
The last World Rapid Open Championship was played two years ago in Moscow in 2019 where 207 participants registered to play. The Omicron surge in Europe has reduced the participation this year, but the roster remains sufficiently strong to make for an action-packed event. The time control is 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move with the whole Swiss tournament running for 13 rounds.
After 9 rounds of play, top seed world chess champion Magnus Carlsen is leading the pack with 7½ points. Half-a-point behind him with 7 apiece are 59th seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 8th seed Alexander Grischuk, and 4th seed Ian Nepomniachtchi. Nine other players are bunched up at 5th to 13th places with 6½ points each, and these are 3rd seed Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Baadur Jobava, Jorden Van Foreest, Alireza Firouzja, 2nd seed Hikaru Nakamura, 6th seed Fabiano Caruana, Ivan Cheparinov, Robert Hovhannisyan, and Bassem Amin.
After the World Rapid championship the 21-round Swiss World Blitz Championship starts immediately.
Carlsen,M (2856)-Firouzja,A (2804) [B12]
Warsaw (7.1) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Ne7 6.h3 Nd7 7.Nf3 Bg6 8.b3 Nf5 9.Be2 Bb4 10.Bb2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.a3 Ba5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Rc1 Nh4 16.Nxh4 Qxh4 17.b4 Bd8 18.Bg4 Bf5 19.Bxf5 Rxf5 20.Qe2 Nf8 21.Nd1 Bb6 22.Ne3 Rg5 23.f4 Rg3 24.Kh2 Rg6 25.Ng4 Qd8 26.a4 Bc7 27.b5 Bd6 28.Rc3 Rc8 29.Rxc8 Qxc8 30.Ne5 Rf6 31.Rc1 Qd8 32.g3 Rf5 33.Qd3 g5 34.Ng4 Kg7 35.Ne3 Rf7 36.f5 Qd7 37.Rf1 h6 38.Kg2 Kg8 39.Ng4 Kg7 40.f6+ Kh8 41.Nxh6 Rh7 42.Ng4 Qe8 43.Ba3 Bxa3 44.Qxa3 Qc8 45.Rc1 Qe8 46.Ne5 Kg8 47.Qf3 Qd8 48.Rf1 Kh8 49.Qe3 Qc8 50.Rf2 g4 51.h4 Rh5 52.Nf7+ Kg8 53.Ng5 1-0
Aronian,L (2772)-Abdusattorov,N (2633) [A45]
Warsaw (7.13) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Bg4 6.c3 cxd4 7.exd4 e6 8.Qb3 Bd6 9.Qxb7 Bxf4 10.Qxc6+ Kf8 11.g3 Bd6 12.Ne5 Rb8 13.f3 Bf5 14.Nb3 h5 15.Kd2 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Nd7 17.Re1 Rb6 18.Qa4 Qc7 19.Qa3+ Kg8 20.f4 Kh7 21.Be2 Rhb8 22.Bxh5 d4 23.g4 dxc3+ 24.bxc3 Qc4 25.gxf5 Qxf4+ 26.Kd1 Nxe5 27.Rhf1 Qc4 28.Rf2 Nd3 29.Rfe2 Qxc3 30.Bxf7 Rd8 31.Rd2 Nf2+ 32.Ke2 Rxd2+ 33.Nxd2 Qxa3 34.Kxf2 Qc5+ 35.Re3 exf5 36.Ke2 Rh6 37.Nf3 f4 38.Re5 Rxh2+ 39.Kd3 Qc2+ 40.Kd4 Qd1+ 41.Ke4 Re2+ 42.Kxf4 Rxe5 43.Nxe5 Qd6 44.Ke4 g5 45.Bb3 Qf6 0-1
Nepomniachtchi,I (2782)-Duda,J-K (2760) [C88]
Warsaw (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Rb8 9.axb5 axb5 10.d3 d6 11.h3 h6 12.Nc3 Re8 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Bd7 15.Bd2 Bf6 16.Ra6 Ne7 17.Bb3 Ra8 18.Rxa8 Qxa8 19.Nh2 Ng6 20.Qh5 Be6 21.Ng4 Qd8 22.Bxe6 Rxe6 23.Ra1 Bg5 24.Bxg5 hxg5 25.g3 Nf8 26.Ne3 c6 27.Ra6 g6 28.Qf3 Qc7 29.Ng4 Qb7 30.Rb6 Qa8 [30…Qxb6 31.Nh6+ Kh7 32.Qxf7+ Kxh6 33.Qxf8+ Kh7 34.Qf7+ Kh8 35.Qxe6+-] 31.Nh6+ Kg7 32.Qxf7+ Kxh6 33.Rb7 1-0
Korobov,A (2699)-Grischuk,A (2764) [E46]
Warsaw (7.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Nge2 d5 6.a3 Bd6 7.c5 Be7 8.b4 c6 9.Ng3 b6 10.Bd2 a5 11.Rb1 axb4 12.axb4 Nbd7 13.Ra1 Rxa1 14.Qxa1 h5 15.Bd3 h4 16.Nge2 h3 17.g3 e5 18.0-0 e4 19.Bc2 Nh7 20.f4 exf3 21.Rxf3 Ng5 22.Rf1 Nf6 23.Qa7 Bg4 24.Bc1 Nfe4 25.Nxe4 Nxe4 26.Nf4 bxc5 27.bxc5 Bg5 28.Nd3 Be2 29.Re1 Bxd3 30.Bxd3 Qf6 31.Qa2 Qe6 32.Qe2 g6 33.Qf3 Kg7 34.Rf1 Rb8 35.g4 Rh8 36.Bxe4 dxe4 37.d5 cxd5 38.Bb2+ f6 39.Qg3 Rh4 40.Kh1 Rxg4 41.Qc7+ Qf7 42.Qd6 Rg2 43.Bd4 Rc2 44.c6 Kh6 45.Rg1 Qe8 46.Qg3 Qe6 47.Qb8 Kh5 48.c7 Qf5 49.Qh8+ Bh6 0-1
Nakamura,H (2736)-Fedoseev,V (2704) [E35]
Warsaw (9.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.dxc5 Nc6 9.e3 g5 10.Bg3 Ne4 11.Bd3 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Bxc5 13.Nf3 g4 14.Nh4 d4 15.exd4 Nxd4 16.Qd2 Qe7+ 17.Kf1 Be6 18.Ne4 Bb6 19.Rc1 Bc7 20.Nf6+ Qxf6 21.Rxc7 0-0 22.Kg1 Rfc8 23.Rxb7 Bxa2 24.Kh2 Rab8 25.Rxb8 Rxb8 26.b4 Be6 27.Re1 Nb3 28.Rxe6 fxe6 29.Qc2 Rxb4 30.Qc8+ Kg7 31.Qc7+ Qf7 32.Qc3+ Rd4 33.Qxb3 Qxf2 34.Qxe6 Rxd3 35.Qg6+ Kf8 36.Qxh6+ Ke7 37.Qh7+ Kd6 38.Qxd3+ Kc5 39.Nf5 a5 40.Qa3+ Kb5 41.Nd6+ Kc6 42.Ne4 Qf5 43.Qc3+ Kb6 44.Qd4+ Kc6 45.Kg1 Qf8 46.Nf2 Qc5 47.Qxg4 Kb5 48.Qe2+ Kb4 49.Kf1 Kb3 50.Qd3+ Kb2 51.Nd1+ Kc1 52.Qc3+ 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nf6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…d4 2.Bb8#; 1…f4 2.Qg5#; 1…e3 2.Nf3#.
