By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen once again stamped his class over the rest of the field and won by two points the FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial Open Tournament which ended on May 17 on the chess24.com server.
Carlsen tallied 6 points in the last 8 rounds and overtook first half leader Daniil Dubov who struggled and could produce only 3 points over the same period.
Despite the dismal last half performance, Dubov managed to salvage 2nd place.
The victory was worth 4,500 Euros for Carlsen, who is now playing the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge also on the chess24.com server which began on May 19.
A nice innovation in the Steinitz Memorial is that half of the 30,000-Euro prize fund will be paid out on a game-by-game basis, with every point in the Open section worth an extra 100 Euros.
The Open final standings: 1. Carlsen, 12; 2. Dubov, 10; 3. Svidler, 9½; 4-6. Mamedyarov, Xiong, Le, 9; 7-8. Korobov, Bu, 8½; 9. Anton Guijarro, 7½; 10. Grischuk, 7.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [C46]
chess24.com (11.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.h3 Bb4 5.Nd5 Bc5 6.c3 0-0 7.b4 Bb6 8.Nxb6 axb6 9.d3 d5 10.Qc2 h6 11.Be2 b5 12.0-0 Be6 13.Be3 Qd7 14.Rfd1 Rfd8 15.a4 bxa4 16.b5 Ne7 17.Rxa4 Qxb5 18.Rb4 Qa6 19.Nxe5 dxe4 20.dxe4 Rxd1+ 21.Qxd1 Qa1 22.Rb1 Qa3 23.Qd4 b6 24.f3 Qa2 25.Qd1 Qa5 26.Qd4 Qa2 27.Qd3 Nd7 28.Nxd7 Bxd7 29.Bf1 Be6 30.Rd1 Ng6 31.f4 Bb3 32.Rd2 Qa1 33.Kh2 Qe1 34.Bf2 Qc1 35.Bg3 Bc4 36.Qxc4 Qxd2 37.Qxc7 Qd8 38.Qb7 Rb8 39.Qa6 Ra8 40.Qb5 Rc8 41.f5 Ne7 42.Bc4 Qe8 43.Qb3 Nc6 44.Bd5 Ne5 45.Qxb6 Kh8 46.Qd4 f6 47.c4 Qe7 48.Bxe5 fxe5 49.Qe3 Qg5 50.Qxg5 hxg5 51.Kg3 Kh7 52.Kg4 Kh6 53.h4 gxh4 54.Kxh4 g5+ 55.Kg4 Rc7 56.f6 Kg6 57.f7 Rc8 58.c5 Kf6 59.c6 Kg6 60.Be6 Rh8 61.c7 Kf6 62.c8Q Rxc8 63.Bxc8 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Korobov, A (2688) [E90]
chess24.com (13.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 0-0 6.h3 a6 7.Be3 c6 8.c5 Nbd7 9.a3 b5 10.Be2 a5 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Qc2 dxc5 13.dxc5 Qc7 14.Rfd1 Rfd8 15.Rac1 Nh5 16.Bf1 Nf8 17.a4 b4 18.Nb1 e5 19.Nbd2 Ne6 20.Nc4 Nd4 21.Bxd4 exd4 22.e5 Ba6 23.Nd6 Bxf1 24.Kxf1 Nf4 25.Qe4 Ne6 26.Nxd4 Nxd4 27.Rxd4 Qe7 28.Re1 Qe6 29.Qxc6 Qb3 30.Qd5 Qxb2 31.Qxf7+ Kh8 32.Qd5 Rf8 33.Rd2 Qc3 34.e6 b3 35.e7 b2 36.exf8Q+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Grischuk, A (2777) [B51]
chess24.com (15.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.c3 Ngf6 5.Qe2 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Bb7 8.0-0 g6 9.d4 Bg7 10.b3 0-0 11.Bb2 e5 12.d5 Nh5 13.g3 Nb6 14.a4 f5 15.c4 bxc4 16.bxc4 f4 17.a5 Nd7 18.g4 Nhf6 19.g5 Nh5 20.Kh1 Rf7 21.Nbd2 h6 22.Rg1 Nf8 23.gxh6 Bxh6 24.Nxe5 f3 25.Nxf7 fxe2 26.Nxd8 Rxd8 27.Nf3 Bc8 28.Rae1 Nf4 29.Bc1 Kf7 30.Ng5+ Bxg5 31.Rxg5 Nh3 32.Rg3 Nxf2+ 33.Kg2 Ng4 34.Bb2 Re8 35.Rxe2 Ne5 36.Rf2+ Kg7 37.Rgf3 Nfd7 38.Ba4 Kh6 39.Rh3+ Kg7 40.Bxd7 Bxd7 41.Rhf3 Kh6 42.Bxe5 Rxe5 43.Rf4 Ba4 44.Rb2 Kh5 45.Rb8 g5 46.Rf6 Rxe4 47.Rh8+ 1-0
Bu, Xiangzhi (2705)-Carlsen, M (2863) [D45]
chess24.com (16.2) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Be2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 a6 12.Bb2 c5 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Rfd1 Rc8 15.a3 Qe7 16.b4 Bd6 17.Qb3 Ng4 18.h3 Nge5 19.Nxe5 Nxe5 20.Rd4 Bb8 21.Ne4 Bd5 22.Qd1 Nc6 23.Rxd5 exd5 24.Qxd5 Rfd8 25.Qf5 Be5 26.Bxe5 Nxe5 27.Nc5 g6 28.Qe4 Qf6 29.Re1 Rd2 30.f4 Nc4 31.Bxc4 bxc4 32.Qxc4 Qc6 33.Re2 Rcd8 34.Kf2 a5 35.b5 Rxe2+ 36.Kxe2 Qxg2+ 37.Ke1 Qd2+ 38.Kf1 Qxe3 39.Ne4 Rd1+ 40.Kg2 Rd4 41.Qc8+ Kg7 42.Nf2 Rd2 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Anton Guijarro, D (2703) [D20]
chess24.com (13.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Bf5 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bxd5 exd5 8.Nge2 Qd7 9.Be3 Nc6 10.a3 Be7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nf4 Be6 13.b4 f6 14.Nxe6 Qxe6 15.f4 fxe5 16.fxe5 Rxf1+ 17.Qxf1 Rf8 18.Qb5 Nd8 19.Qxd5 c6 20.Qxe6+ Nxe6 21.d5 cxd5 22.Nxd5 Bg5 23.Bxa7 Rd8 24.Rd1 Nc7 25.Nc3 Rxd1+ 26.Nxd1 Kf7 27.Kf2 Ke6 28.Be3 Be7 29.Nc3 Kxe5 30.Ke2 Ne6 31.Kd3 g5 32.g3 g4 33.Nb5 h5 34.Nc3 h4 35.gxh4 Bxh4 36.a4 Be7 37.b5 Bd8 38.Kc4 Ba5 39.Bf2 Kf4 40.Bg3+ Kf3 41.Nd5 Kg2 42.Ne3+ Kh3 43.Kd5 Ng5 44.Nc4 Bd8 45.a5 Nf3 46.a6 bxa6 47.bxa6 Nxh2 48.Bxh2 Kxh2 49.a7 g3 50.a8Q g2 51.Nd2 Kg3 52.Qb8+ Kf2 53.Qf4+ Ke1 54.Qe3+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxf4/f6 2.Q(x)f6#; 1…Kxf4 2.Rf3#; 1…gxf4 2.Rh5#; 1…Rxf4 2.Qxd7#; 1…Sexf4 2.Sg3#; 1…Sgxf4 2.Se3#./PN