By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen executed a tremendous performance in crushing a helpless GM Sanan Sjugirov, 9-0, in their semifinals match Tuesday, April 7th, at the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup, which is being played online on the chess24.com server.
So overwhelmed was the Russian Sjugirov he wasn’t even able to salvage a draw in the best of 16 games blitz match. Carlsen will now wait for the winner of the Aliresa Firouzja-S.L. Narayanan match to dispute the championship. The bet is on teen sensation Firouzja, and netizens are eager to watch a Carlsen vs Firouzja showdown. The 22-year old Narayan isn’t exactly a pushover. The Indian chess ace won the chess.com Titled Tuesday Tournament last January by beating world blitz number one Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. Theirs, indeed, will be a terrific match, and you can watch it live, too.
Here are six of Carlsen’s wins versus Sjugirov:
Carlsen, M (2876)-Sjugirov, S (2662) [B90]
chess24.com (6.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Rg1 e5 7.Nb3 Bg4 8.Be2 Be6 9.Be3 Be7 10.g4 b5 11.g5 Nfd7 12.Nd5 Nc5 13.Nxc5 dxc5 14.a4 bxa4 15.c3 0-0 16.Qxa4 Bxd5 17.exd5 Bd6 18.h4 Nd7 19.h5 Rb8 20.Qg4 e4 21.g6 h6 22.Bxh6 Ne5 23.gxf7+ Rxf7 24.Qe6 Kf8 25.Rxa6 Rb6 26.Rxg7 Rxg7 27.Bxg7+ Kxg7 28.Ra7+ Kh8 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Qg7# 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Sjugirov, S (2662) [B90]
chess24.com (6.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Rg1 b5 7.g4 Bb7 8.f3 g6 9.a3 Bg7 10.Be3 Nbd7 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13.Be2 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Kb1 0-0 16.h4 Nd7 17.h5 Ne5 18.hxg6 fxg6 19.f4 Rxd4 20.Qxd4 Nc4 21.Qd3 Nxe3 22.Qxe3 a5 23.e5 b4 24.Nd5 bxa3 25.Qxa3 Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Qb6 27.Rgd1 Rxf4 28.exd6 exd6 29.Rxd6 Qf2 30.Qb3+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Sjugirov, S (2662) [D00]
chess24.com (6.5) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.Nc3 a6 4.e3 e6 5.g4 Bb4 6.Nge2 0-0 7.a3 Be7 8.g5 Nh5 9.h4 c5 10.Bxb8 Rxb8 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 g6 14.Be2 Ng7 15.0-0-0 Qc7 16.h5 b5 17.h6 Nf5 18.Qf6 Qe7 19.Qe5 Qd6 20.Qxd6 Nxd6 21.e4 b4 22.axb4 Rxb4 23.exd5 Bb7 24.dxe6 Bxh1 25.e7 Re8 26.Rxd6 Rb7 27.Bxa6 Rbxe7 28.b4 Re6 29.Rxe6 Rxe6 30.Bd3 Kf8 31.b5 Ke7 32.Kb2 Kd6 33.Kb3 Re5 34.f4 Re8 35.Kb4 Rf8 36.Na4 f6 37.c4 fxg5 38.c5+ Kd5 39.fxg5 Rf4+ 40.Ka5 Kd4 41.Bxg6 hxg6 42.c6 Rf8 43.Nb6 Kc5 44.Nd7+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Sjugirov, S (2662) [B90]
chess24.com (6.7) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Rg1 e5 7.Nb3 h5 8.h3 Be6 9.Be3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.Qxd5 Bxd5 13.0-0-0 Be6 14.Na5 Nc6 15.Nxb7 Nb4 16.Nd6+ Bxd6 17.Rxd6 Nxa2+ 18.Kb1 Nb4 19.Bc5 Rb8 20.c3 Bf5+ 21.Ka1 Nc2+ 22.Ka2 Rh6 23.Rxh6 gxh6 24.Bc4 a5 25.Rd1 f6 26.Bb3 Rc8 27.Bb6 a4 28.Bxa4+ Kf7 29.Rd8 Be6+ 30.Kb1 Rxd8 31.Bxd8 Ne1 32.Bc6 Nd3 33.Bb6 f5 34.b4 e4 35.h4 f4 36.Bxe4 1-0
Sjugirov, S (2662)-Carlsen, M (2876) [C78]
chess24.com (6.8) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.d3 Bc5 8.c3 d6 9.Nbd2 h6 10.Re1 Bb6 11.Nf1 Ne7 12.Ng3 Ng6 13.a4 0-0 14.h3 Re8 15.Nf5 d5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.Bxh6 gxh6 19.Qd2 Nf4 20.Nxe5 N6h5 21.Nxh6+ Kf8 22.Nhxf7 Qh4 23.d4 Rxe5 24.dxe5 Qg3 0-1
Carlsen, M (2876)-Sjugirov, S (2662) [C51]
chess24.com (6.9) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7 6.d4 Na5 7.Be2 d5 8.Qa4+ c6 9.dxe5 b5 10.Qc2 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nbd2 Be6 13.0-0 0-0 14.Nd4 Qc7 15.f4 dxe4 16.Nxe4 c5 17.Nxb5 Qc6 18.Nbd6 f5 19.Ng3 Bxd6 20.Bf3 Bd5 21.Bxd5+ Qxd5 22.Rad1 Qf7 23.Rxd6 Nc4 24.Rf6 Qd7 25.Qe2 Rxf6 26.exf6 Nd6 27.Rd1 Rd8 28.Qe7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nbd4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…e6 2.Rxd7#; 1…Qa4/b2 2.Bc5, Rd5#; 1…Qb3/c5 2.B(x)c5#; 1…Qc3/c1/b4, Rc3/b3, Bxd4 2.Rd5#; 1…Qa2 2.Bc5, Rb6#; 1…Rxd4 2.Rb6#; 1…Be6 2.Qg3#./PN
