The quarterfinal matches in Group A of the Chessable Masters Tournament on the chess24.com server concluded with Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi overpowering their respective opponents and advancing to the semifinals stage.
Carlsen dominated an off-form Fabiano Caruana while Nepomniachtchi crushed an equally out-of-sorts Vladimir Artemiev. Both prevailed rather easily after two sets of four rapid games each in the quarterfinals format.
Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi won in similar fashion, hacking out identical 2½-½ victories in their two three-game sets.
Both will now await the results of the Group B quarterfinals to determine their semifinal foes.
Liren Ding leads Hikaru Nakamura while Anish Giri is ahead of Alexander Grischuk after the first quarterfinal set.
Ding defeated Nakamura in the first set, 2½-1½, while Giri drew all seven games played with Grischuk –only difference being the seventh game was an Armageddon where he played black with draw odds.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Caruana, F (2835) [E10]
chess24.com (1.22) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.b3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Bd6 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Nc3 Rfe8 14.Nxd5 Bxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Qxd5 16.Qxd5 Nxd5 17.Rfd1 Red8 18.Rac1 f6 19.Rd4 Ne7 20.Rc7 Nf5 21.Rg4 h5 22.Rg6 Re8 23.Bxf6 Re6 24.e4 Rxe4 25.Rg5 Rh4+ 26.Kg1 Re8 27.g3 Rg4 28.Rxf5 gxf6 29.Rxb7 h4 30.Rf4 Rxf4 31.gxf4 Ra8 32.Kg2 a5 33.Kh3 a4 34.Kxh4 axb3 35.axb3 Ra5 36.Kg4 Rd5 37.b4 Kf8 38.b5 Ke8 39.f5 Kf8 40.b6 Rb5 41.f3 Ke8 42.f4 Kf8 43.Kh5 Rxf5+ 44.Kg6 Rxf4 45.Rc7 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Artemiev, V (2716) [C63]
chess24.com (1.22) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.a4 Bg4 9.Qd3 0-0 10.Bc4+ Kh8 11.Ng5 Qe8 12.Ne6 Nb4 13.Qd2 Qf7 14.Nb5 Na6 15.Nexc7 Qxc4 16.Nxa8 Rxa8 17.b3 Qc6 18.f3 Be6 19.c4 Nc5 20.Rb1 a6 21.Nc3 Nxb3 22.Rxb3 Bxc4 23.Qb2 Qc5+ 24.Rf2 Bxb3 25.Qxb3 Rc8 26.Bd2 Bd8 27.Nd1 d5 28.Qxb7 Bb6 29.a5 Ba7 30.Be3 d4 31.Bg5 Rb8 32.Qxa6 Rb1 33.Rf1 Nh5 34.Nf2 Rxf1+ 35.Kxf1 d3 36.Be3 Qc3 37.g3 Bxe3 38.Qa8+ 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E25]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Be3 0-0 11.a4 Nfd7 12.Kf2 Nxc5 13.Qd6 b6 14.Bb5 Bd7 15.Ne2 Bxb5 16.Bxc5 bxc5 17.Qxc5 Nd7 18.Qxb5 Qc7 19.Rhd1 Ne5 20.f4 Ng4+ 21.Kf3 Nf6 22.Qe5 Qe7 23.Rd4 Rac8 24.Rb1 Rfd8 25.Rxd8+ Qxd8 26.Qd4 Qc7 27.Rd1 h6 28.g4 Re8 29.Qd6 Qc4 30.Qb4 Qc8 31.Ng3 e5 32.f5 Rd8 33.Rxd8+ Qxd8 34.Ke2 Nxg4 35.Nf1 a5 36.Qb5 Qh4 37.Nd2 Qxh2+ 38.Kd3 Qg3+ 39.Kc2 Ne3+ 40.Kb3 Qe1 41.Qd3 Qd1+ 42.Ka2 Qxa4+ 43.Kb2 Ng4 44.Nb3 Nf6 45.Nc5 Qc6 46.Qd8+ Kh7 47.Qe7 Qb5+ 48.Kc2 a4 49.Qxe5 a3 50.Nd3 Qa4+ 0-1
Artemiev, V (2716)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [A01]
chess24.com (1.23) 2020
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.Na3 Na5 6.Be2 a6 7.c4 c5 8.Nc2 Nc6 9.d4 cxd4 10.exd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Bb4+ 12.Kf1 exd4 13.Qxd4 0-0 14.Bf3 d5 15.Bxd5 Qc7 16.Ne2 Re8 17.Bf3 Bf5 18.Qf4 Qd7 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Ng3 Bb1 21.Kg1 Re1+ 22.Nf1 Qd3 23.Qg4+ Kh8 24.Be2 Rxe2 25.Rxb1 Bc5 26.h4 Rxf2 27.Re1 Rf4+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bxe5!. Black’s futile options are 1…Qxe5 2.c7#; 1…Bxe3 2.Sgxe3#; 1…Be4/g6/h7 2.Sxb6#; 1…Bxd3 2.e4#./PN
