Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian successfully fended the frenetic attempts of their quarterfinal opponents last week to level the score and banked on their early leads to gain the semifinals of the ongoing Clutch Chess Showdown II on the lichess.org server.
Caruana managed to match a determined Leinier Dominguez Perez point for point to finally oust his compatriot, 10-8, while Aronian did the same against Alexander Grischuk to boot out the gritty Russian via a similar score.
The last six games saw Caruana and Dominguez slug it out to an identical 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses tally. Aronian and Grischuk’s final six games result was the same, which showed the intensity of the two battles for the last two semifinal seats.
In the semifinals, Caruana will be facing Wesley So while Aronian will be squaring off with Magnus Carlsen.
Grischuk, A (2777)-Aronian, L (2773) [E06]
lichess.org (1.9) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Qd3 b6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Rd1 N7f6 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.b4 c6 15.Rab1 b5 16.a4 bxa4 17.Ra1 a5 18.Rxa4 axb4 19.Rxb4 Ba6 20.Qd2 Qe7 21.e3 Bc4 22.Rdb1 Ra2 23.Qc1 c5 24.dxc5 Qxc5 25.Bf1 Rc8 26.Rb8 Ra8 27.Rxa8 Rxa8 28.Nd2 Rc8 29.Qc2 Qc6 30.Bh3 Ra8 31.Rc1 Ra3 32.Qb1 Qa8 33.Bg2 Bd3 34.Qb4 Ra1 35.Rxa1 Qxa1+ 36.Bf1 Bc3 37.Qb3 d4 38.exd4 Qc1 39.Qb8+ Kh7 40.Qf4 Bxd2 0-1
Grischuk, A (2777)-Aronian, L (2773) [E47]
lichess.org (1.11) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nge2 cxd4 7.exd4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bc2 Nc6 10.Qd3 Qh4 11.Bg5 Qh5 12.g4 Qg6 13.Qd2 f5 14.Rg1 e5 15.gxf5 Bxf5 16.Bb3 Be6 17.Be7 Qf5 18.Bxf8 Rxf8 19.0-0-0 Nxc3 20.Bxe6+ Qxe6 21.bxc3 Ba3+ 22.Kb1 Rxf2 23.d5 Qf5+ 24.Ka1 Na5 25.d6 Nc6 26.d7 Be7 27.Qd5+ Qf7 28.Ng3 Qxd5 29.Rxd5 Kf7 30.Rf1 Rxf1+ 31.Nxf1 Ke6 32.c4 Bd8 33.Kb2 Nb8 34.Ng3 Nxd7 35.Nf5 Nb6 36.Nxg7+ Ke7 37.Nf5+ Ke6 38.Rxd8 Kxf5 39.Kc3 Na4+ 40.Kb4 b5 41.cxb5 Nb6 42.a4 Ke6 43.a5 Nd5+ 44.Kc5 Nf6 45.b6 axb6+ 46.axb6 1-0
Aronian, L (2773)-Grischuk, A (2777) [B50]
lichess.org (1.12) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qe3 d5 7.Bb5 Nxe4 8.Nd4 Bd7 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Qxe4 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Qd5 13.Qe3 c5 14.Ne2 e6 15.Bc3 Bc6 16.f3 Be7 17.Nf4 Qf5 18.h4 Bd6 19.Ne2 Qxc2 20.Rd1 Be7 21.Nf4 0-0 22.0-0 Rfd8 23.Rc1 Qa4 24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Qxe6+ Kf8 26.Bxg7+ Kxg7 27.Qxe7+ Kg8 28.Qe6+ Kh8 29.Rc4 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [E35]
lichess.org (1.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 c5 7.dxc5 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Nf3 d4 10.0-0-0 Bxc5 11.exd4 Bd6 12.Bxd6 Qxd6 13.a3 Be6 14.Kb1 Na5 15.d5 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd5 17.Bd3 g6 18.Be4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 Qb6 20.Ne5 Rfe8 21.Qf4 Qe6 22.Nd7 Kg7 23.Rhe1 Qc4 24.Qf6+ Kg8 25.Qd6 Kg7 26.Re7 Rxe7 27.Qxe7 Qf4 28.Qb4 Qf5+ 29.Ka1 Rc8 30.g4 Qf3 31.Qd4+ f6 32.Qd6 Re8 33.Nc5 Qxg4 34.h3 Qc8 35.Ka2 b6 36.Qd7+ Qxd7 37.Rxd7+ Kh6 38.Nd3 Nc6 39.Rc7 Re6 40.Kb3 Rd6 41.Kc3 Nd4 42.a4 a5 43.b4 Ne2+ 44.Kc2 axb4 45.Nxb4 Nf4 46.Kb3 Nxh3 47.Kc4 Nxf2 48.Kb5 g5 49.Rc6 Rxc6 50.Nxc6 g4 51.Nd4 Nd3 52.Kxb6 Nb2 53.Kb5 Nxa4 54.Kxa4 Kg5 55.Kb3 Kf4 56.Kc3 Ke3 57.Nf5+ Kf2 58.Kd3 g3 0-1
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Caruana, F (2835) [B12]
lichess.org (1.8) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 e6 8.Ngf3 Nh6 9.0-0 Nf5 10.Nb3 Qb5 11.Qd1 c5 12.a4 Qb6 13.a5 Qb5 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.Re1 a6 16.Nbd4 Nxd4 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 Nc6 19.Qf4 Qb4 20.c3 Qxf4 21.Bxf4 0-0-0 22.Be3 d4 23.cxd4 Rd5 24.Rec1 Kb8 25.Rc5 Rxc5 26.dxc5 Rd8 27.Ra4 Kc8 28.Re4 Rd5 29.g4 hxg4 30.Rxg4 g6 31.f4 Kd7 32.h5 gxh5 33.Rg8 Nxa5 34.Rf8 Ke7 35.Rb8 Rd8 36.Rxd8 Kxd8 0-1
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Caruana, F (2835) [B12]
lichess.org (1.10) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 e6 8.Ngf3 Nh6 9.0-0 Nf5 10.a4 Qa6 11.c4 Bb4 12.b3 c5 13.Ba3 Nc6 14.dxc5 Bxd2 15.Nxd2 Nxe5 16.Qe2 Ng4 17.b4 0-0 18.b5 Qa5 19.cxd5 exd5 20.Qd3 Nxh4 21.c6 Rfe8 22.cxb7 Rab8 23.Nb3 Qd8 24.Nc5 Ng6 25.Qg3 N4e5 26.Rae1 h4 27.Qe3 d4 28.Qe4 h3 29.g3 d3 30.Na6 d2 31.Rd1 f5 32.Qxf5 Rxb7 33.Qxh3 Nf3+ 34.Kg2 Qd5 35.Nb4 Qe4 36.Qh5 Ne1+ 37.Kh3 Qg2+ 38.Kg4 Qf3+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rb1!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd1, d1=Q 2.Qg3#; 1…dxc1=Q/B 2.Kxb3#; 1…dxc1=R 2.Kxb3/a3#; 1…dxc1=S 2.Ka3#; 1…d1=R 2.Qg3, Re2#; 1…d1=B 2.Ka3, Qg3#; 1…d1=S 2.Re2#./PN
