World champion Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So emerged the joint overall winners of the St. Louis Online Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament which ended over the weekend at the lichess.org server.
Carlsen captured the blitz portion of the event along with Hikaru Nakamura while Wesley took the rapid aspect. Incidentally, the scoring in the event for rapid is a win = two points, a draw = one point and a loss = zero point while blitz is scored normally.
It was a tremendous performance for Wesley, who was seen in live feeds stroking his pet cat like Bond villain Blofeld while playing. The Cavite-native, now playing for the United States Chess Federation, was undefeated in rapid and suffered only two losses in blitz. In contrast, his co-champion Carlsen absorbed five losses overall – two in rapid and three in blitz.
The final overall standings (rapid & blitz): 1-2. Carlsen, So, 24; 3. Nakamura, 21; 4-5. Aronian, Grischuk, 18½; 6. Nepomniachtchi, 18; 7-8. Xiong, Harikrishna, 15½; 9-10. Firouzja, Dominguez Perez, 12½.
The victory was worth $45,000 each for Carlsen and Wesley while overall third placer Hikaru Nakamura pocketed $35,000. All players, including the bottom-dwellers, got hefty sums for the five-day chessfest.
So, Wesley (2770)-Aronian, L (2773) [C67]
lichess.org (8.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.c3 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.a4 d5 14.a5 c6 15.Bf4 g6 16.Nd2 Ng7 17.Be5 Be7 18.h3 Be6 19.Nb3 Qf8 20.Qd2 Re8 21.Re1 Bc8 22.Bb8 a6 23.Bf4 Bd8 24.Bh6 Rxe1 25.Qxe1 Qd6 26.Qe3 Qe7 27.Qxe7 Bxe7 28.Nc5 g5 29.Bd3 Ne8 30.h4 gxh4 31.Bf4 Bd8 32.b4 Nc7 33.Kh2 Nb5 34.Na4 Be7 35.Bh6 Nd6 36.Nc5 Bf5 37.Bxf5 Nxf5 38.Bf4 Bxc5 39.bxc5 Kg7 40.Kh3 Kg6 41.Kg4 h5+ 42.Kh3 Ng7 43.Kxh4 Ne6 44.Bd6 Ng5 45.f3 Ne6 46.Be5 Nf8 47.Bd6 Nd7 48.Be7 Kh6 49.Bg5+ Kg6 50.Be7 Kh6 51.Kg3 Kg7 52.Kf4 Kg6 53.g3 Nf6 54.Ke5 Ne8 55.Bd8 Kg7 56.Kf5 h4 57.Bxh4 Nc7 58.Bf6+ Kf8 59.Ke5 Nb5 60.g4 Ke8 61.g5 Na3 62.Kf5 Nc4 63.g6 Kf8 64.Be5 Nd2 65.Kf6 fxg6 66.Bd6+ Ke8 67.f4 Nf3 68.Kxg6 Nh4+ 69.Kf6 Kd7 70.f5 Nf3 71.Kg7 Ng5 72.Bf4 Nh3 73.Be3 1-0
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C41]
lichess.org (r/5.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bf4 0-0 7.Qd2 c6 8.0-0-0 b5 9.f3 b4 10.Nb1 a5 11.g4 a4 12.h4 c5 13.Nf5 Bxf5 14.gxf5 Nc6 15.h5 Nd4 16.Qg2 Kh8 17.Be3 h6 18.Bd3 Nd7 19.Rhg1 Bf6 20.f4 Re8 21.Bxd4 cxd4 22.Nd2 Nc5 23.Nc4 b3 24.Kb1 bxc2+ 25.Bxc2 Rb8 26.Bd3 Rb4 27.a3 Rb3 28.Bc2 Rb8 29.e5 dxe5 30.fxe5 Rxe5 31.Nxe5 Bxe5 32.Bd3 Bf6 33.Qc2 Qa5 34.Rg2 Nxd3 35.Qxd3 Qd5 36.Re2 Kh7 37.Qe4 Rxb2+ 38.Kxb2 d3+ 39.Kc1 Qc5+ 40.Kd2 Qc2+ 41.Ke1 Bh4 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-Nakamura, Hi (2736) [A22]
lichess.org (b/1) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qh5 Nc6 6.Bb5 Ndb4 7.Qxe5+ Be6 8.Qe4 a6 9.Be2 Be7 10.a3 Nd5 11.Nf3 0-0 12.0-0 Na5 13.Nd4 Nxc3 14.dxc3 Bd5 15.Qg4 Nb3 16.Nxb3 Bxb3 17.e4 Bc5 18.Bg5 Qd6 19.Bf4 Qe7 20.Qg3 Rad8 21.e5 Qe6 22.h4 Kh8 23.h5 h6 24.Bg4 Qc6 25.Bf3 Bd5 26.Rad1 Bxf3 27.Qxf3 Qxf3 28.gxf3 c6 29.Kg2 Rfe8 30.Bg3 Kg8 31.f4 Be7 32.f5 Bc5 33.Kf3 a5 34.Ke4 a4 35.f4 Be7 36.Bf2 b5 37.Rg1 Kf8 38.Bb6 Rb8 39.Bc7 Rb7 40.Bd6 c5 41.Bxe7+ Rbxe7 42.Rxg7 Kxg7 43.f6+ Kf8 44.fxe7+ Kxe7 45.Rd5 Rc8 46.f5 Rc6 47.f6+ Ke8 48.Rd6 Rc8 49.Rb6 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-So, Wesley (2770) [C26]
lichess.org (b/16) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd3 Bc5 6.Bf4 0-0 7.0-0-0 Re8 8.f3 d6 9.Qd2 Be6 10.Kb1 a6 11.Nge2 b5 12.Nc1 Ne5 13.Bg5 h6 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.Qxe3 b4 16.N3e2 a5 17.Nf4 a4 18.h4 Qe7 19.g4 a3 20.b3 Bxg4 21.fxg4 Nexg4 22.Qd4 c5 23.Qxd6 Qxd6 24.Rxd6 Nxe4 25.Rd7 Ngf2 26.Bc4 Nxh1 27.Bxf7+ Kh7 28.Nce2 Nhg3 29.Bg6+ Kh8 0-1
Carlsen, M (2863)-So, Wesley (2770) [D37]
lichess.org (b/12) 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 Nxc5 10.Bxc4 Qxd1 11.Rfxd1 b6 12.Ne5 Bb7 13.f3 Nh5 14.b4 Na6 15.a3 Bf6 16.Bxa6 Bxa6 17.Ne4 Rfd8 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rc1 Bb5 20.g4 Nxf4 21.exf4 Bh4 22.Kg2 f5 23.Ng5 fxg4 24.fxg4 Rd2+ 25.Kh3 Bxg5 26.fxg5 Kf8 27.Rc7 Re2 28.g6 h5 29.Nd7+ Ke7 30.Nxb6+ Kf6 31.Rxa7 Re3+ 32.Kh4 hxg4 33.Kxg4 Kxg6 34.a4 Re4+ 35.Kg3 Rxb4 36.axb5 Rxb5 37.Nc4 Rb3+ 38.Kg2 Rc3 39.Ne5+ Kf6 40.Ra5 Kf5 41.Nf3+ Kf4 42.Ra4+ Kf5 43.Ra7 Kf6 44.Ra6 Rc4 45.Kg3 Rb4 46.h4 Rb3 47.Kg4 Rb4+ 48.Kg3 Rb3 49.Ra4 e5 50.Kg4 Rb6 51.Ng5 Rc6 52.h5 Rb6 53.Ne4+ Ke6 54.Ra7 Kd5 55.Ng5 e4 56.Rxg7 e3 57.Re7 Kd4 58.Ne6+ Kc3 59.Nf4 Kd2 60.Kf3 Rb3 61.Rd7+ Ke1 62.Ng2+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxe7 2.Qc6#; 1…Sd6 2.Qe5#; 1…Rc2 2.Rg5#; 1…Re3/xe7 2.Bxc4#./PN
