World champion Magnus Carlsen captured the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final with still two rounds to go after building an insurmountable lead following another loss inflicted on closest pursuer Wesley So in Round 7 of the 10-player event.
Wesley was unrecognizable in his Round 7 match against Levon Aronian, losing 2½-½. This painful loss was preceded by a shock 3-1 defeat to Teimur Radjabov in Round 6. Although the former Cavite native remains in second place overall, Radjabov – who walloped Carlsen, 3-1, in Round 7 – crept dangerously close to Wesley and is just half-a-point away to gaining 2nd place overall. And with two rounds to go, the Azeri GM has good chances of wresting 2nd place overall from Wesley.
Meanwhile, Carlsen’s overall victory earned him $100,000 and the distinction of being the best online player on the planet.
The standings after Round 7:
So,Wesley (2778)-Aronian,L (2782) [C42]
chess24.com (7.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 c6 10.h4 d5 11.Kb1 Re8 12.Bd3 Bc5 13.Bg5 f6 14.Bf4 Ne5 15.Nd4 Bb6 16.Be2 Nc4 17.Bxc4 dxc4 18.h5 Bxd4 19.Qxd4 Qxd4 20.Rxd4 Be6 21.b3 Bd5 22.f3 b5 23.Kc1 Re2 24.Rd2 Rae8 25.Kd1 Rxg2 26.Rxg2 Bxf3+ 0-1
Aronian,L (2782)-So,Wesley (2778) [C50]
chess24.com (7.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Nc3 h6 6.h3 a6 7.Be3 d6 8.a4 Bxe3 9.fxe3 Be6 10.b3 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.e4 Bxc4 14.bxc4 0-0 15.0-0 Nd4 16.Kh2 Ne6 17.Qe1 f6 18.Qg3 Nd4 19.Rf2 Nxf3+ 20.Rxf3 Qd7 21.Qg6 Qf7 22.Qg4 b6 23.Raf1 Kh7 24.Qf5+ Qg6 25.g4 c6 26.Rb1 Rfb8 27.Rb3 b5 28.axb5 axb5 29.cxb5 Ra2 30.b6 Rxc2+ 31.Kg3 Rc5 32.Qd7 Qg5 33.b7 h5 34.Rb2 Rc1 35.Rf5 Qe3+ 36.Kh4 Qe1+ 37.Rbf2 Rc2 38.Qf7 Qxf2+ 39.Rxf2 Rxf2 40.Qc7 Rxb7 41.Qxb7 hxg4 42.hxg4 Rf3 43.g5 Kg6 44.Qd7 Rf4+ 45.Kg3 c5 46.gxf6 gxf6 47.Qc8 1-0
Carlsen,M (2855)-Radjabov,Teimour (2763) [C65]
chess24.com (7.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Nd7 7.c3 h6 8.d4 Bd6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Nc4 exd4 11.Nxd6 cxd6 12.Nxd4 Nf6 13.f3 Re8 14.c4 Qb6 15.Re1 d5 16.cxd5 Nxd5 17.Kh1 Ne7 18.Nb3 Qc7 19.Be3 b6 20.Nd4 c5 21.Nb5 Qc6 22.a4 a6 23.Nc3 Be6 24.Qe2 f5 25.Qf2 Rac8 26.h3 Ng6 27.Qf1 f4 28.Bd2 Rcd8 29.Nd5 Bxd5 30.exd5 Qxd5 31.Rxe8+ Rxe8 32.Bc3 Nh4 33.Rd1 Qg5 34.Rd7 Nf5 35.Qc4+ Kh7 36.Qf7 Re7 37.Qxf5+ Qxf5 38.Rxe7 Qg5 39.Ra7 b5 40.axb5 axb5 41.Ra5 c4 42.Ra7 Kg8 43.Rb7 g6 44.Kh2 Kf8 45.Kh1 Ke8 46.Bb4 Qf6 47.Bc3 Qf5 48.Kh2 g5 49.Rb6 h5 50.Rh6 g4 51.hxg4 hxg4 52.fxg4 Qxg4 53.Rh3 Kd7 54.Rf3 Ke6 55.Kg1 Qf5 56.Kf1 Kd5 57.Kg1 Kc5 58.Kh2 b4 59.Bh8 Kd5 60.Rh3 Ke4 61.Rf3 Qh7+ 62.Rh3 Qc7 63.Kg1 Qb6+ 64.Kh2 Qb8 65.Kg1 c3 66.Bxc3 bxc3 67.bxc3 Qb6+ 68.Kh2 Qf2 69.Rf3 Qe3 70.Rh3 Kd3 71.Rf3 Kxc3 72.Kh3 Kd4 73.Kh4 Ke4 74.Kg4 Qe2 0-1
Mamedyarov,S (2762)-Giri,A (2777) [D45]
chess24.com (7.3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2 Qe7 11.Rad1 Rad8 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.h3 c5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Bb5 Bb8 16.Ba3 Qe6 17.Ng5 Qd6 18.Nf3 a6 19.Bxd7 Nxd7 20.Na4 Rc8 21.Rc1 Ba7 22.Red1 Qf6 23.Nc3 c4 24.bxc4 dxc4 25.e4 b5 26.Re1 Qg6 27.Nh4 Qb6 28.Nf5 Rcd8 29.Be7 Ra8 30.Bd6 g6 31.Ne7+ Kg7 32.e5 Qxd4 33.Rcd1 Qh4 34.Ncd5 Nc5 35.e6 Bxd5 36.Nxd5 Nxe6 37.Be5+ Kf8 38.Qb2 f5 39.g3 Qxh3 40.Qa3+ Kf7 41.Nf4 b4 42.Rd7+ Kg8 43.Nxe6 Rxe6 44.Rg7+ Kf8 45.Qxb4+ Ke8 46.Rg8+ Kf7 47.Qb7+ 1-0
Nakamura,H (2736)-Vachier-Lagrave,M (2763) [E60]
chess24.com (7.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 d6 6.0-0 e5 7.Nc3 Qe7 8.b4 Rd8 9.Bb2 Bf5 10.Re1 c6 11.a4 e4 12.Nd2 d5 13.Ba3 Bf8 14.b5 Qe8 15.Bxf8 Qxf8 16.Nb3 a5 17.c5 Nbd7 18.Qd2 Rdb8 19.b6 Qd8 20.Na2 h5 21.Reb1 h4 22.Nxa5 h3 23.Nb4 Rxa5 24.Nxc6 bxc6 25.Qxa5 hxg2 26.Qe1 Ng4 27.Bxg4 Bxg4 28.f4 exf3 29.Rb2 Nf6 30.Qg3 Bh5 31.Qd6 Qe8 32.Qe5 Qd8 33.a5 Ne4 34.a6 Ng5 35.Qg3 Qe7 36.Re1 Kh7 37.a7 Ra8 38.b7 Rxa7 39.b8Q Ra4 40.h4 Nh3+ 41.Qxh3 Rxd4 42.Qbg3 Re4 43.Qf2 d4 44.Rb3 f5 45.Qhg3 Qf7 46.Reb1 Re7 47.exd4 f4 48.Qg5 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1… g5 2.Nh6#; 1…Qxc4 2.Ne7#; 1…Qd6 2.Qe4#; 1…Be3/d2/c1/g5/h6 2.Qd5#; 1…Be5 2.Be4#; 1…Bd6 2.Qe6#; 1…Nd4 2.Qd3#.
