THE Goldmoney Asian Rapid, the seventh leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, got underway June 26 and after 10 rounds of play in the preliminary stage, Levon Aronian and Liren Ding lead the 16-man competition.
Besides Aronian and Ding, the others in the Category 19 (average Elo: 2717), all-GM, single round robin event – which features Asian qualifiers and invitees – are Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi, Ding Liren, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladimir Artemiev, Saleh Salem, Hou Yifan, Adhiban Baskaran, Gukesh D, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler, and Arjun Erigaisi.
As usual, the top eight players in the preliminary round will advance to the knockout stage. The time control is 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move and the prize fund for the tournament is $100,000.
The standings after Round 10: 1-2. Aronian, Ding, 7; 3-4. So, Artemiev, 6½; 5-6. Carlsen, Giri, 6; 7. Erigaisi, 5½; 8. Duda, 5; 9-12. Salem, Dubov, Firouzja, Svidler, 4½; 13-14. Gukesh, Vidit, 4; 15. Hou, 2½; 16. Adhiban, 2.
Salem, A.R.S. (2682)-So, Wesley (2770) [E25]
chess24.com (2.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.f3 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Be3 0-0 11.Kf2 Nfd7 12.a4 Nxc5 13.Qd6 Nxa4 14.Ne2 Bd7 15.h4 Rc8 16.h5 Qc7 17.Qd2 h6 18.g4 f6 19.Rd1 b5 20.Bg2 Nb6 21.Bf4 e5 22.Bxh6 gxh6 23.Qxh6 Qc5+ 24.Nd4 Qf8 25.Qg6+ Qg7 26.Nf5 Bxf5 27.exf5 Nc6 28.f4 exf4 29.Rhe1 Ne5 30.Rxe5 fxe5 31.f6 Qxg6 32.hxg6 Rd8 33.Rh1 Rd2+ 34.Ke1 Rxg2 35.Rh7 Rxg4 36.Rg7+ Kf8 37.Rf7+ Ke8 38.Re7+ Kd8 39.g7 Nd7 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Duda, J-K (2729) [E49]
chess24.com (5.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Nf3 Qc7 10.Be2 b6 11.Bb2 Bb7 12.0-0 Rd8 13.Re1 Nbd7 14.c4 Rac8 15.Bf1 cxd4 16.exd4 Ng4 17.g3 Qc6 18.Bg2 Ngf6 19.Rc1 Qd6 20.Qb3 Be4 21.Bf1 h6 22.a4 Qb8 23.h4 Rc7 24.g4 Qa8 25.Nd2 Bb7 26.g5 hxg5 27.hxg5 Nh5 28.d5 exd5 29.Qh3 g6 30.Be2 d4 31.Bxh5 gxh5 32.Re7 Re8 33.Rxf7 Kxf7 34.Qxh5+ Kg8 35.Qg6+ Kf8 36.Qd6+ Re7 37.Qxc7 Kg8 38.Bxd4 Rh7 39.f3 Bxf3 40.g6 Rh1+ 41.Kf2 Qe8 42.Rxh1 Qe2+ 43.Kg3 Bxh1 44.Qxd7 Qg2+ 45.Kh4 Qh2+ 46.Qh3 Qf4+ 47.Kh5 1-0
Aronian, L (2781) Carlsen, M (2847) [B31]
chess24.com (6.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.0-0 c4 9.Re1 Qd6 10.Bg5 cxd3 11.cxd3 Bg4 12.Ne4 Qd5 13.Rc1 Nf6 14.h3 Nxe4 15.dxe4 Qxd1 16.Rexd1 Bd7 17.Ne1 f6 18.Be3 a5 19.Nd3 Be6 20.b3 Kf7 21.Nc5 Rhc8 22.Rc2 Rc7 23.Rdc1 Bc8 24.Na4 Bb7 25.Bb6 Rcc8 26.Nc5 Bh6 27.Rd1 Ba6 28.Bxa5 Bb5 29.b4 Rcb8 30.a4 Ba6 31.g3 Bc8 32.Kg2 f5 33.Rc4 Ra7 34.Rd8 fxe4 35.Rxe4 Bg7 36.g4 h5 37.Rc4 hxg4 38.hxg4 Bf6 39.f3 Rba8 40.Ne4 Bb7 41.Rd7 c5 42.Nxc5 Bc6 43.Rxa7 Rxa7 44.Bb6 Ra8 45.b5 Bd5 46.Rc2 Bg5 47.a5 Be3 48.Nd7 Bf4 49.Re2 Ke6 50.Nc5+ Kf7 51.Ne4 Rc8 52.a6 Rb8 53.Bg1 Rxb5 54.Nc3 Ra5 55.Nxd5 Rxd5 56.Ra2 Rd8 57.a7 Ra8 58.Rb2 e4 59.fxe4 Ke6 60.Kf3 Bd6 61.Rb7 Ke5 62.Bh2+ Kd4 63.Bxd6 exd6 64.Kf4 Rf8+ 65.Kg5 Ra8 66.Re7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Artemiev, Vladislav (2704) [B40]
chess24.com (7.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Nc3 d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg4 9.f3 Be6 10.Be3 Bb4 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.Rb1 Qd7 14.Nxe6 Qxe6 15.Re1 Qd7 16.Bg5 Qf5 17.h4 h6 18.g4 Qd7 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.c4 Rad8 21.cxd5 Qxd5 22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Rxb7 Rd2 24.f4 Nd4 25.Kf1 Nxc2 26.Re2 Rd1+ 27.Kf2 Nd4 28.Reb2 Ne6 29.Bf3 Rc1 30.Kg3 Rc3 31.R2b3 Rfc8 32.Rb8 Rxb8 33.Rxc3 Nd4 34.Bd1 Rb1 35.Rd3 Ne6 36.Rd5 Kg7 37.f5 Nc5 38.Bc2 Rb5 39.Kf3 Ra5 40.a4 Kf8 41.Ke3 Nb7 42.Rxa5 Nxa5 43.Kd4 Ke7 44.Kc5 Kd7 45.Kb5 Nc6 46.Be4 Ne5 47.Ka6 Nxg4 48.Kxa7 Kc7 49.Ka6 Nf2 50.Bf3 Nd3 51.Kb5 Ne5 52.Be4 Ng4 53.a5 Nf2 54.Bf3 Nd3 55.a6 Ne5 56.a7 Nxf3 57.a8Q 1-0
Ding, L (2799)-Svidler, P (2714) [D70]
chess24.com (10.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.d5 Ne5 9.Bd4 0-0 10.f4 Ng4 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Nf3 e6 13.Qd4+ Nf6 14.0-0-0 exd5 15.e5 Nh5 16.f5 Bxf5 17.g4 c5 18.Qg1 Bxg4 19.Qxg4 d4 20.Rg1 Kh8 21.Ne4 Nd5 22.Qg5 Qxg5+ 23.Nfxg5 Ne3 24.Rd2 Rae8 25.Nd6 Re7 26.Rf2 Kg7 27.Be2 f6 28.Ngf7 fxe5 29.Bxh5 e4 30.Bd1 Rexf7 31.Nxf7 Rxf7 32.Rxf7+ Kxf7 33.Bc2 Nxc2 34.Kxc2 Kf6 35.Rf1+ Ke6 36.Rf8 h5 37.a4 g5 38.a5 Ke5 39.Rf7 e3 40.Rxb7 Ke4 41.Rxa7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxb3/d2/e2/f2/g2/b1+ 2.Q(x)b1#; 1…Rc2 2.Qxc2#; 1…Rh2+ 2.Qxh2#./PN
