By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
The remaining semifinals bout of the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup between GMs Aliresa Firouzja and S.L. Narayanan is still to be played as we write this, so let’s discuss right now how the first finalist – world chess champion Magnus Carlsen – got to the finals.
As we reported earlier, the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup started September 25 last year with 128 players (the site says 133, but no evidence showed the number was more than 128) from all over the planet playing a 7-round individual knockout tournament. Carlsen made his debut in the round of 64, where he progressed by first beating a gallant Argentine GM Alan Pichot, 9-3, and then demolishing Spanish GM Jose Fernando Cuenca Jimenez, 8½-½, to advance to the Round of 16. There, he crushed Georgian GM Ivan Cheparinov, 8½-1½. Incidentally, Cheparinov – the former second to erstwhile world champion Veselin Topalov, was a native Bulgarian who switched federations in 2018. Also, among the elite players who failed to make it during the early knockout stages are GMs Leinier Dominguez Perez, David Navara, Peter Svidler, Romain Edouard, Etienne Bacrot, and Gata Kamsky.
As we also reported earlier, Carlsen went on to beat GM Nils Grandelius in the quarterfinals and then GM Sanan Sjugirov in the semifinals. Here are some of his wins in the previous rounds:
Carlsen, M (2876)-Pichot, A (2590) [B20]
chess24.com (1.2) 2019
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 g6 3.h4 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.h5 Bg7 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Bc4 Qd8 8.d3 Nh6 9.c3 Nf5 10.Nc2 Nd6 11.Bb3 Na5 12.Bf4 Nxb3 13.axb3 b6 14.d4 cxd4 15.Ncxd4 Bb7 16.Qe2 0-0 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.Be5 Ne4 19.Qe3 f6 20.Ne6 Qd5 21.Nxg7 fxe5 22.Qh6 Rxf3 23.gxf3 Kf7 24.Rg1 Qc6 25.fxe4 Qxe4+ 26.Kd2 Rd8+ 27.Kc1 Qd3 28.Ne6 Kxe6 29.Qxg6+ Qxg6 30.Rxg6+ Kf5 31.Rg7 Bf3 32.Rxa7 Rd1+ 33.Kc2 Rf1 34.c4 Rxf2+ 35.Kc3 e4 36.Raxe7 Kf4 37.Rgf7+ Ke3 38.Rf6 Rf1 39.Rxb6 Rc1+ 40.Kb4 Rh1 41.Rbe6 Rh2 42.c5 Rxb2 43.c6 Rc2 44.c7 Ke2 45.Rxe4+ Bxe4 46.Rxe4+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando (2523) [A45]
chess24.com (2.1) 2019
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 e6 4.e3 Be7 5.c3 0-0 6.Bd3 b6 7.f4 Bb7 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Ngf3 c5 10.h4 h6 11.g4 Be7 12.g5 h5 13.g6 fxg6 14.Bxg6 Nd7 15.Ng5 Nf6 16.Bxh5 Qd6 17.Bg6 Bc6 18.h5 Be8 19.Qb1 cxd4 20.cxd4 Rc8 21.h6 Rc1+ 22.Qxc1 Bxg6 23.hxg7 Kxg7 24.Ndf3 Qb4+ 25.Kf2 Ng4+ 26.Kg3 Nh6 27.Nxe6+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Mamedov, R (2645) [B52]
chess24.com (3.13) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.c4 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Bg7 8.Be3 Nf6 9.h3 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Rc1 c5 13.Nde2 Bc6 14.f3 Nd7 15.b3 Re8 16.Qd2 Rb8 17.Bh6 Bh8 18.Rb1 Nf6 19.Nf4 Qa5 20.Rfc1 Qa3 21.Nfd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Qa5 23.Re1 Ng4 24.Na4 Bd4+ 25.Kf1 Qxd2 26.Bxd2 Ne5 27.Ba5 Rb7 28.Rbd1 Nd7 29.g4 f6 30.Kg2 Kf7 31.Re4 h5 32.Bc3 Be5 33.f4 f5 34.fxe5 Nxe5 35.Rxe5 dxe5 36.Nxc5 Rc7 37.Ne6 Rcc8 38.Bxe5 hxg4 39.hxg4 a5 40.Rh1 1-0
Carlsen, M (2876)-Cheparinov, I (2670) [A45]
chess24.com (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.c4 b4 5.Nd2 g6 6.e4 Bg7 7.Ngf3 d6 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3 e5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 a5 12.h3 a4 13.g4 b3 14.axb3 axb3 15.Qd1 Rxa1 16.Qxa1 Na6 17.Ke2 Nb4 18.Qa3 Qb6 19.Ra1 h5 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.gxh5 Bxh3 22.Rg1 Kg7 23.Qxb3 Ra8 24.Bb1 Qc7 25.hxg6 fxg6 26.Nxe5 Bxe5 27.Qxh3 Rh8 28.Qf5 Qf7 29.Nf3 Bxb2 30.e5 Qxf5 31.Bxf5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nb3!. Black’s futile options are: 1…f6 2.Qe7#; 1…Bf6 2.Qh7#; 1…e2 2.Bc2#; 1…Qd2 2.Rxf4#./PN
