By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational being played online on the chess24.com server ended on May 3 with a narrow victory for world champion Magnus Carlsen after he slammed Hikaru Nakamura, 2½-1½, in a highly technical championship match.
The two exchanged wins in Games 1 and 2. Carlsen drew first blood and Nakamura leveled in the second. In the third, Carlsen nursed an opening advantage to victory in the endgame, and the match looked headed to a blitz tiebreak as Nakamura held what seemed like a decisive advantage in Game 4. As luck would have it, however, Nakamura lost grip on the position and allowed Carlsen to escape with the draw and the championship.
Here’s the final standings of the players and their respective purses: 1st – Carlsen, $70,000; 2nd – Nakamura, $45,000; 3rd – 4th – Liren Ding and Fabiano Caruana, $30,000; 5th – Ian Nepomniachtchi, $22,500; 6th – Aliresa Firouzja, $20,000; 7th – Anish Giri, $17,500; and 8th – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, $15,000.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A29]
chess24.com (2.1) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d3 0-0 9.Be3 Be6 10.Rc1 Nd5 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.a3 Re8 13.Qc2 Bf6 14.Nd2 Nd4 15.Bxd4 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 exd4 17.Qxc7 Rxe2 18.Qxd8+ Rxd8 19.Nc4 Rde8 20.Kf3 Bg5 21.Rb1 R2e6 22.a4 h5 23.b4 g6 24.b5 Kg7 25.Rb2 Be7 26.Rc1 g5 27.Kg2 g4 28.Rcc2 Bg5 29.b6 axb6 30.Rb5 Kg6 31.f4 gxf3+ 32.Kxf3 Bd8 33.Rd5 Bf6 34.Rb2 Ra8 35.Rxb6 Rxa4 36.Rxe6 fxe6 37.Rb5 Ra1 38.Rxb7 Rf1+ 39.Ke2 Rh1 40.h4 Rg1 41.Kf2 Rd1 42.Rb3 Ra1 43.Nd6 Be5 44.Ne4 Ra5 45.Kf3 Kf5 46.Nd2 Bf6 47.Nc4 Ra1 48.Nd6+ Kg6 49.Ne4 Re1 50.Kf2 Re3 51.Nd2 Re5 52.Ne4 Rf5+ 53.Ke2 Ra5 54.Rb6 Kf5 55.Kf3 Be5 56.Rb3 Ra1 57.Rb5 Re1 58.Nd6+ Kg6 59.Nc4 Bf6 60.Rb6 Kf5 61.Kf2 Rd1 62.Nd6+ Kg4 63.Ne4 Be5 64.Rxe6 Kf5 65.Ke2 Rg1 66.Rh6 Bxg3 67.Rxh5+ Kf4 68.Rh8 Re1+ 69.Kd2 Re3 70.h5 Be1+ 71.Kc2 Rh3 72.h6 Kf5 73.h7 Kg6 74.Rg8+ Kxh7 75.Nf6+ Kh6 76.Rh8+ Kg6 77.Rxh3 Kxf6 78.Kb3 Ke5 79.Kc4 Bf2 80.Rf3 Be3 81.Rf8 Ke6 82.Kc5 Bg1 83.Kc6 Be3 84.Re8+ 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [D37]
chess24.com (2.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 Nh5 8.Bd3 Nxf4 9.exf4 b6 10.b4 a5 11.a3 c6 12.0-0 Ba6 13.Qe2 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 g6 15.Rfc1 Qc7 16.g3 axb4 17.axb4 Qb7 18.Rab1 Ra3 19.Qc2 Rfa8 20.Kg2 Bf6 21.Ne2 Ra2 22.Qd1 bxc5 23.bxc5 Qa6 24.Rc2 Rxc2 25.Qxc2 Rb8 26.Rxb8+ Nxb8 27.Nc1 Nd7 28.Nd3 Qb5 29.Qc3 h5 30.Qa3 Kg7 31.Nde5 Bxe5 32.fxe5 Qe2 33.Ng5 Qg4 34.h4 Nf8 35.Qd3 Qf5 36.Qxf5 exf5 37.Kf3 f6 38.exf6+ Kxf6 39.Ke3 Nd7 40.Nf3 Ke6 41.Ne1 Nb8 42.Nd3 Kf6 43.f4 Nd7 44.Ne5 Nf8 45.Nxc6 Ke6 46.Ne5 Ke7 47.Kd3 Kd8 48.Kc3 Kc7 49.Nd3 Nd7 50.Nb4 Nf6 51.Kb3 Kb7 52.Ka4 Ne4 53.Nxd5 Nxg3 54.Kb5 Ne4 55.c6+ Kc8 56.Kb6 Nd6 57.Ne7+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, H (2736) [D37]
chess24.com (2.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.0-0 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Bxc4 a6 11.Ng5 b5 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Nxe6 Qe7 14.Nxf8 Qxf8 15.Ne4 Bb7 16.Nxc5 Qxc5 17.Rc1 Qd5 18.f3 Qxa2 19.e4 Nf8 20.Rf2 Rc8 21.Rxc8 Bxc8 22.Qd8 Qe6 23.Bd6 Qe8 24.Qxe8 Nxe8 25.Bb4 Ne6 26.Rd2 Kf7 27.Kf2 Nf6 28.Ke3 g5 29.Rd6 Nd7 30.g3 Ne5 31.b3 h5 32.h4 gxh4 33.gxh4 Ng6 34.Be1 a5 35.Rd5 a4 36.Rxh5 Nef4 37.Rg5 axb3 38.h5 Nf8 39.Bc3 b4 40.Bb2 N8e6 41.Rf5+ Kg8 42.Rxf4 Nxf4 43.Kxf4 Ba6 44.Kg5 Bd3 45.Kg6 Bb5 46.f4 Be8+ 47.Kg5 Bc6 48.e5 Bd5 49.f5 Kh7 50.e6 Bc4 51.Kf6 Be2 52.Ke7 1-0
Nakamura, H (2736)-Carlsen, M (2863) [D52]
chess24.com (2.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 dxc4 8.Bxf6 Nxf6 9.Nxc4 Qc7 10.Be2 Be7 11.a3 0-0 12.b4 Rd8 13.0-0 b6 14.Bf3 Ba6 15.Qb3 Rac8 16.Rac1 c5 17.dxc5 Bxc4 18.Qxc4 bxc5 19.Na4 Nd7 20.Qb5 Qb8 21.Qxb8 Rxb8 22.bxc5 Rdc8 23.c6 Ne5 24.Rc3 Nxf3+ 25.gxf3 Kf8 26.Rd1 Ke8 27.Rd7 Bf6 28.Rc5 Rxc6 29.Rxa7 Rxc5 30.Nxc5 Be7 31.Ne4 f5 32.Ng3 g6 33.a4 Kf7 34.Ne2 Kf6 35.Ra6 Rb2 36.Nf4 Kf7 37.Nd3 Ra2 38.Ra7 Kf6 39.f4 Bd6 40.Ra6 Ke7 41.Ne5 Bxe5 42.fxe5 Kd7 43.Kg2 g5 44.Rd6+ Ke7 45.Ra6 Kd7 46.a5 h5 47.Rd6+ Ke7 48.a6 h4 49.Rb6 Kd7 50.Rd6+ Ke7 51.h3 Ra5 52.f4 g4 53.Rb6 Ra2+ 54.Kh1 Ra1+ 55.Kg2 Ra2+ 56.Kf1 Ra1+ 57.Kg2 Ra2+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Kf7!. Black’s futile options are: 1…cxb6 2.Rc4#; 1…c6 2.Rb4#; 1…c5 2.Rf6#./PN
