The second day of hostilities in the preliminary stage of the Opera Euro Rapid played at chess24.com server ended on Sunday with Magnus Carlsen hanging on to his half-point lead over Wesley So and Anish Giri.
Although the lead is slim, Carlsen is virtually assured of advancing to the knockout quarterfinals with five rounds to go in the 16-player, single round robin preliminary. Giri is the second day’s best scorer, earning 3½ points in 5 games that enabled him to dislodge Ian Nepomniachtchi in the shared 2nd-3rd places. Nepo dropped to solo 4th place. Wesley would have tied Carlsen on first if he had not been careless in a losing battle versus Leinier Dominguez Perez. Still, Wesley beat Sam Shankland and Jan-Krzysztof Duda while drawing with Giri and Alexander Grischuk for a three-win, one-loss, and two draw second day tallies.
The top 8 finishers in the prelim stage advanced to the quarterfinal knockouts.
Preliminary standings after Round 10: 1. Carlsen, 7; 2-3. So, Giri, 6½; 4. Nepomniachtchi, 6; 5-7. Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave, Radjabov, 5½; 8-10. Nakamura, Duda, Grischuk, 5; 11-12. Vidit, Dubov, 4½; 13. Shankland, 4; 14. Bluebaum, 3½; 15-16. Ding, Dominguez Perez, 3.
So, Wesley (2770)-Shankland, S (2691) [D11]
chess24.com (6.7) 2021
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 dxc4 7.Nxf5 exf5 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bxc4 Nb6 10.Bb3 Qd7 11.Qf3 Bd6 12.Bd2 0-0 13.h3 Bb4 14.Bc2 g6 15.0-0-0 Nfd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 17.Rxd2 cxd5 18.Bd3 Rac8+ 19.Kb1 Nc4 20.Rc2 Rc6 21.g4 Rfc8 22.gxf5 Qc7 23.Ka1 Ne5 24.Rxc6 Qxc6 25.dxe5 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [B40]
chess24.com (8.7) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 cxd4 6.Bc4 d6 7.cxd4 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Bd7 10.Bxd5 exd5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Bf4 Nc6 13.Rfd1 Re8 14.h3 h6 15.Nb5 Bf5 16.Qf1 dxe5 17.dxe5 a6 18.Nbd4 Be4 19.e6 Bf6 20.exf7+ Kxf7 21.Rac1 Rc8 22.Be3 Qd7 23.Rd2 Kg8 24.Rcd1 Kh7 25.Ne1 Nxd4 26.Bxd4 Bg5 27.Re2 Qb5 28.f3 Bg6 29.Rxe8 Qxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Rxe8 31.Nd3 Bxd3+ 32.Rxd3 Rd8 33.Rc3 Rd7 34.Ke2 Kg6 35.Kd3 Bf4 36.Rc8 Kf7 37.h4 h5 38.g4 hxg4 39.fxg4 Rc7 40.Rd8 Ke6 41.h5 Bg5 42.Re8+ Kf7 43.Re5 Bf6 44.Rf5 Ke6 45.Bxf6 gxf6 46.h6 Rh7 47.Rh5 Kf7 48.Kd4 Kg6 49.Kxd5 Rd7+ 50.Ke6 Rh7 51.a4 b5 52.axb5 axb5 53.b4 Rh8 54.h7 Re8+ 55.Kd7 Rh8 56.Kc6 1-0
Giri, A (2764)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [B67]
chess24.com (9.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.Kb1 Be7 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.f3 b5 12.h4 Qc7 13.Ne2 h6 14.Be3 d5 15.e5 Nd7 16.f4 Nc5 17.Nd4 Ne4 18.Qe1 Bd7 19.g4 0-0-0 20.Bd3 g5 21.f5 gxh4 22.f6 Bc5 23.Rxh4 Qxe5 24.Bxe4 Qxe4 25.Qc3 Kb7 26.Nxe6 Bxe6 27.Qxc5 d4 28.Bxd4 Qc6 29.Qa7+ Kc8 30.Rh5 Rd5 31.Rxd5 Bxd5 32.Bb6 Re8 33.Qxa6+ Kd7 34.Qa7+ Kc8 35.Qa6+ Kb8 36.a4 bxa4 37.Ba7+ Ka8 38.Qa5 Bc4 39.Bb6+ Kb7 40.Qa7+ Kc8 41.Bc7 Qb7 42.Qxa4 Bb5 43.Qa5 Be2 44.Rd4 Qh1+ 45.Ka2 Qc6 46.Bg3 Bc4+ 47.b3 Ba6 48.Kb2 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Ding, L (2791) [A01]
chess24.com (9.7) 2021
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 e4 5.Ne2 a6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Ng3 h5 8.Nc3 Qe7 9.h4 Rh6 10.Qe2 Bg4 11.f3 exf3 12.gxf3 Bd7 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.Qf2 Kb8 15.e4 Bc8 16.Kb1 c5 17.d3 Qe8 18.Rhe1 Nd7 19.Nf5 Rc6 20.Nd5 Ne5 21.Qg3 f6 22.Nfe3 b5 23.Rg1 Kb7 24.Qf2 a5 25.Qe2 Ra6 26.Rg2 a4 27.Rdg1 axb3 28.axb3 Be6 29.Rxg7 Bxg7 30.Rxg7 Bxd5 31.Nxd5 Rd7 32.Rg3 Rf7 33.Qg2 Ra8 34.Rg7 Qf8 35.Rxf7 Qxf7 36.Qf2 Nd7 37.Qg3 Rc8 38.Qf4 Qg6 39.Bc1 Qf7 40.Qf5 c6 41.Ne3 Rg8 42.f4 Kc7 43.Bd2 Ra8 44.Qh3 Kb6 45.Bc1 Nf8 46.Nf5 Ne6 47.Qe3 Qa7 48.Bb2 Rf8 49.Ng3 Qh7 50.f5 Nd4 51.b4 Kb7 52.bxc5 1-0
Carlsen, M (2862)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (10.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Be7 9.e3 a5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.b5 Nd7 13.Be2 Nc5 14.0-0 a4 15.Be5 Nb3 16.Ra2 Be6 17.Nd4 Bd6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Bb2 Rc8 20.g3 Qd7 21.Bd3 Qf7 22.e4 Bc5 23.exd5 exd5 24.Be5 Rce8 25.Bf4 h6 26.Qg4 Re6 27.h4 h5 28.Qd1 Rf6 29.Kg2 g6 30.Bh6 Re8 31.Bg5 Rfe6 32.Bc2 Re1 33.Bxg6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxe7/d6 2.S(x)d6#; 1…Bd4 2.b6#; 1…Bc3/xe7 2.R(x)c3#; 1…d4 2.Sb6#; 1…Sb3 2.d3#.
