THE FIDE (International Chess Federation) Candidates Tournament to determine who will challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen resumes April 19 with eight top grandmasters battling to be the challenger for the crown. In case you’ve forgotten, the candidates are Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Wang Hao, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Kirill Alekseenko, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Alekseenko substituted for Teimour Radjabov who asked for a postponement of the competition because the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has started to rage in Europe
Of course, FIDE denied Radjabov’s request and the competition was ordered started. The event, however, was stopped April last year when the European lockdowns began. At any rate, the Round 8 pairings will be Caruana vs. Vachier-Lagrave, Wang vs. Ding, Nepomniachtchi vs Giri, and Alekseenko vs. Grischuk.
The standings after Round 7 or after the event was halted: 1-2. Vachier-Lagrave, Nepomniachtchi, 4½; 3-6. Caruana, Grischuk, Giri, Wang, 3½; 7-8. Alekseenko, Ding, 2½.
Here are some of the memorable decisions of the event:
Ding, L (2805)-Wang, H (2762) [A20]
Yekaterinburg (1.2) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bc5 4.d3 0-0 5.Nc3 c6 6.Nf3 d6 7.0-0 Re8 8.Na4 Bb4 9.a3 Ba5 10.b4 Bc7 11.e4 a5 12.Bb2 Na6 13.b5 cxb5 14.cxb5 Nc5 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.a4 Bg4 17.Ra3 Nd7 18.h3 Bh5 19.Qb1 b6 20.Nd2 Nf8 21.Bf3 Qg5 22.h4 Qg6 23.Qd1 Bxf3 24.Qxf3 h5 25.Qf5 Rad8 26.Qxg6 Nxg6 27.Kg2 f6 28.Nc4 Kf7 29.Bc1 Rd7 30.f4 exf4 31.Bxf4 Nxf4+ 32.gxf4 f5 33.e5 Re6 34.Kf3 Rg6 35.Ne3 Ke6 36.Rd1 Bd8 37.Ra2 Rd4 38.Nc2 Rd5 39.Ne3 Rd7 40.Rdd2 Bxh4 41.Rg2 Rg4 42.Rh2 g6 43.Nxg4 fxg4+ 44.Ke3 Be7 45.Rac2 h4 0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2767)-Ding, L (2805) [C88]
Yekaterinburg (2.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Rfe8 12.Bd2 Nd8 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 c5 15.a4 f5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.c4 Nf7 19.cxb5 g5 20.Nh2 Kg7 21.Bc4 Kg6 22.g4 Nh6 23.Qf3 Bd8 24.Qg2 f4 25.b4 Bb6 26.Qe4+ Kg7 27.bxc5 dxc5 28.Nf3 Nf7 29.Bc3 Bc7 30.b6 Bb8 31.Qf5 Qxf5 32.gxf5 Kf6 33.Nd2 Rd8 34.d6 Rxd6 35.Rb1 Nd8 36.b7 Bxb7 37.Ba5 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2774)-Wang, H (2762) [C42]
Yekaterinburg (5.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bf5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Nbd2 Nd6 10.Nf1 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 c6 12.Bf4 Na6 13.h4 Nc7 14.Ng5 Bxg5 15.Bxg5 f6 16.Bf4 Qd7 17.Ng3 Rae8 18.Bxd6 Qxd6 19.Nf5 Qd7 20.Qh3 Kh8 21.h5 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 Re8 23.Rxe8+ Nxe8 24.g4 a6 25.b3 Qe6 26.Ne3 Nd6 27.h6 g6 28.c4 dxc4 29.bxc4 Kg8 30.Qh2 Kf7 31.c5 Nb5 32.Qb8 Qd7 33.Qh8 Ke6 34.f4 Nxd4 35.Qg8+ Qf7 36.Qc8+ Qd7 37.Qg8+ Qf7 38.Qd8 Qd7 39.f5+ gxf5 40.gxf5+ Nxf5 41.Qxd7+ Kxd7 42.Nxf5 Ke6 43.Ne3 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2774)-Ding, L (2805) [C84]
Yekaterinburg (6.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.b4 Bxa2 12.Rxa2 Nc6 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nd5 a5 16.Rb2 axb4 17.axb4 Bd8 18.c4 Nd4 19.Nxd4 exd4 20.Qc2 Re8 21.g3 bxc4 22.Qxc4 c6 23.Nf4 Bg5 24.Ne2 d5 25.exd5 cxd5 26.Qb3 h5 27.b5 h4 28.b6 h3 29.Kh1 Reb8 30.Rfb1 Bd8 31.Qb5 Qg4 32.Qxd5 Ra5 33.Qc6 Rc5 34.Qe8+ Kh7 35.Ng1 Rxb6 36.Qxd8 Rxb2 37.Rxb2 Rc1 38.Qh4+ Qxh4 39.gxh4 Rd1 40.f3 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2767)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2774) [C19]
Yekaterinburg (7.2) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.h4 Qc7 8.h5 h6 9.Rb1 b6 10.Qg4 Rg8 11.Bb5+ Kf8 12.Bd3 Ba6 13.dxc5 Bxd3 14.cxd3 Nd7 15.d4 bxc5 16.Qd1 Qa5 17.Bd2 Rb8 18.Ne2 c4 19.0-0 Rb6 20.Qc2 Rh8 21.a4 Ke8 22.Rb4 Nc6 23.f4 Ne7 24.Rfb1 f5 25.Rb5 Qa6 26.Bc1 Kf7 27.Ba3 Rhb8 28.Bxe7 Kxe7 29.g4 Rxb5 30.axb5 Rxb5 31.gxf5 Rxb1+ 32.Qxb1 exf5 33.Ng3 Qb6 34.Nxf5+ Kf8 35.Qa1 Qe6 36.Ng3 Qg4 37.Kg2 Qxf4 38.Qxa7 Ke7 39.Qa3+ Kd8 40.Qd6 g5 41.hxg6 h5 42.g7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rb2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kc4/c3/c5 2.Rc7#; 1…Ke3 2.Re7#; 1…Ke5 2.Re7/g6#./PN
