THE NINTH FILE
A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
World number 2 Fabiano Caruana thrashed Vladislav Kovalev in Round 11 and Jan-Krzysztof Duda in Round 12 to win the 82nd Tata Steel Masters Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands with a round left to spare. This means the result of his final round game will be of no consequence, as the 27-year old Caruana will still pocket the championship with a 1½ point lead over closest pursuer Magnus Carlsen.
Carlsen was held to two draws in his last two outings against Duda and Vladislav Artemiev, and has conceded the title to Caruana as early as Round 11. The world champion is in solo second, while Wesley is solo third going to the final round. As usual, Wesley – after starting like a house on fire and leading the event early – ran out of steam and can only produce a string of eight draws after beating teen sensation Aliresa Firouzja in Round 4.
The standings after Round 12: 1. Caruana, 9; 2. Carlsen, 7½; 3. So, 7; 4-5. Van Foreest, Dubov, 6½; 6-10. Giri, Anand, Duda, Artemiev, Firouzja, 6; 11. Xiong, 5½; 12. Vitiugov, 4½; 13. Yu, 4; 14. Kovalev, 3½.
Firouzja,A (2723)-Anand,V (2758) [E20]
Wijk aan Zee (11.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 8.e5 Nfd7 9.dxc5 Nxe5 10.Qxd8+ Bxd8 11.Be2 Bd7 12.Nf3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 Bc6 14.Ne4 Bc7 15.b4 Nd7 16.Bb2 Ne5 17.0-0-0 Nxf3 18.gxf3 Bf4+ 19.Kb1 f6 20.Rhg1 Kf7 21.Nd6+ Bxd6 22.Rxd6 g5 23.Rf1 a6 24.Kc2 Rhd8 25.Kd2 e5 26.Ke3 Rxd6 27.cxd6 Ke6 28.c5 b6 29.h4 h6 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.cxb6 Rb8 32.Rd1 Rxb6 33.Kf2 Ba4 34.Rd2 Rb8 35.Kg3 Rc8 36.Kf2 Rc4 37.Kg3 Rc8 38.Kf2 Rh8 39.Kg3 Rh1 40.Kg2 Rb1 41.Kg3 Bc6 42.Kf2 Kd7 43.Kg3 Rf1 44.Rd3 Ke6 45.Kg4 Rb1 46.Rd2 Rg1+ 47.Kh3 Rf1 0-1
Kovalev,V (2660)-Caruana,F (2822) [C78]
Wijk aan Zee (11.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Rb8 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Re1 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nh5 15.f4 Nxf4 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.Kh1 Ne7 18.Bc2 Ng6 19.b4 c6 20.Na3 c5 21.bxc5 dxc5 22.Nc4 cxd4 23.Nxb6 Rxb6 24.cxd4 Rd6 25.Ra4 Ne5 26.f3 Nc6 27.e5 Rxd4 28.Rxd4 Nxd4 29.Be4 Qh4 30.Rg1 Rd8 31.Qf1 g6 32.Rg4 Qe7 33.Rxf4 Qxe5 34.Rh4 Ne6 35.Rh3 Nf4 36.Rg3 Rd2 0-1
Artemiev,V (2731)-Van Foreest,J (2644) [A28]
Wijk aan Zee (11.5) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e3 Be7 7.Be2 g5 8.h3 Be6 9.a3 f5 10.Nd2 0-0 11.0-0 Nf6 12.b4 Bd6 13.Bb2 Ne7 14.Nc4 Ng6 15.d4 exd4 16.Qxd4 Be7 17.Nb5 c6 18.Qxd8 Raxd8 19.Nd4 Bc8 20.Rfd1 Nd5 21.Rd2 Bf6 22.Rad1 Nb6 23.Nxb6 axb6 24.Bc4+ Kh8 25.Be6 Be5 26.Bxc8 Rxc8 27.Ne6 Rg8 28.Nxg5 Bxb2 29.Rxb2 Ne5 30.Ne6 Rge8 31.Nd4 Rcd8 32.Rbb1 Nc4 33.Nxf5 Nxa3 34.Rbc1 Kg8 35.Nd6 Re7 36.Nf5 Red7 37.Rxd7 Rxd7 38.g4 Kf7 39.Kg2 Rd2 40.h4 Nc2 41.Nd6+ Rxd6 42.Rxc2 Ke6 43.h5 Rd5 44.f4 Rb5 45.Rc4 c5 46.bxc5 bxc5 47.g5 Kd5 48.g6 hxg6 49.hxg6 Ra5 50.Rc2 Ra8 51.f5 c4 52.f6 c3 53.f7 Ke6 54.Rf2 c2 55.Rxc2 Kf6 56.Rf2+ Kg7 57.e4 1-0
Caruana,F (2822)-Duda,J-K (2758) [E06]
Wijk aan Zee (12.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qa4 c6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qb3 Bb7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.Bf4 Qc7 14.Nc3 Nc5 15.Qc2 b4 16.Nb1 Ba6 17.Bf3 Rac8 18.a3 Rb8 19.axb4 Rxb4 20.Be3 Qb7 21.Nd2 Rxb2 22.Qc3 Rb5 23.Ra3 Qb8 24.Rda1 Bb7 25.Rxa7 Nd7 26.Nc4 Rd8 27.Be4 c5 28.Qc2 h6 29.Bd2 Nf8 30.Bd3 Rd7 31.Nd6 Rb6 32.Qxc5 Bd5 33.Rxd7 Nxd7 34.Qc8+ Nf8 35.Qxb8 Rxb8 36.f4 Bd8 37.Kf2 Nd7 38.Be3 g5 39.Bd4 Rb4 40.Ke3 gxf4+ 41.gxf4 Kf8 42.Bb5 Nf6 43.exf6 Rxd4 44.Rc1 Bxf6 45.Rc7 Bh8 46.Rc8+ Ke7 47.Rxh8 Rb4 48.Nc8+ Kf6 49.Bd3 Be4 1-0
Dubov,D(2683)-Yu,Y (2726) [D43]
Wijk aan Zee (12.6) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Be2 Bb4 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 dxc4 12.Rfd1 c5 13.Bxc4 a6 14.Qa3 b6 15.Bb5 Rd8 16.Bc6 Ra7 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.Qb4 Nd7 19.Qd6 Rf8 20.Rd2 Nc5 21.Rad1 Qe7 22.b4 Qxd6 23.Rxd6 Nb7 24.R6d2 f6 25.h4 h5 26.Be4 e5 27.Rc1 Ra8 28.Rc6 b5 29.Rb6 Kh8 30.Rc2 Rf7 31.Rxa6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Na2!, intending 2.b4#. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc6 2.Sb7#; 1…Sd5 2.Se4#; 1…dxc3 2.Qxe3#./PN
