GM Aliresa Firouzja regained the solo leadership of the ongoing FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, Latvia, after beating GM Evgenij Najer in Round 7 action Wednesday. The game was the only decisive game in the top ten boards as the rest of Firouzja’s erstwhile co-leaders and most of their closest pursuers opted to draw.
Meanwhile, 2nd seed Levon Aronian may have kissed his chances of winning this event goodbye after losing to Ukraine’s Andrei Volokitin in 39 moves of a Ruy Lopez. The loss dropped Aronian two full points off the leader Firouzja. Although still mathematically possible to rally, the prospects are dim with just four rounds to go. On the other hand, top seed Fabiano Caruana is a full point off after another draw this time with compatriot Samuel Sevian.
At the moment, Firouzja’s biggest threats are 4th seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Krishnan Sasikiran and veteran Alexei Shirov who each has 5 points to Firouzja’s 5½ markers. A large group of 27 players including Caruana have 4½ points apiece and are very much in contention. We should expect torrid action in the last four rounds as these jockey for better positions in the leaderboard.
Firouzja,A (2770)-Najer,E (2654) [C43]
Riga (7.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 Nxd2 6.Bxd2 Be7 7.c3 c5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.0-0 Bg4 10.Re1 Qd7 11.h3 Bh5 12.Bf4 Qe6 13.Be2 0-0 14.Qd2 Bg6 15.Rad1 Be4 16.Ng5 Bxg5 17.Bxg5 d4 18.Bf1 Qg6 19.Qf4 Bc2 20.Rd2 Rae8 21.Bh4 Kh8 22.f3 a6 23.Bf2 Rd8 24.Rc1 Bb1 25.cxd4 Nxd4 26.Bxd4 cxd4 27.a3 Ba2 28.Rxd4 Qb6 29.Rcd1 Rfe8 30.Kh2 Rxd4 31.Qxd4 Qxd4 32.Rxd4 g5 33.Rd7 b5 34.Rd6 Rxe5 35.Rxa6 Bc4 36.Bxc4 bxc4 37.a4 Rc5 38.Rb6 c3 39.bxc3 Rxc3 40.a5 Kg7 41.a6 Ra3 42.Kg3 Ra2 43.f4 gxf4+ 44.Kxf4 Rxg2 45.Ke5 Ra2 46.Kd6 f5 47.Kc7 f4 48.Kb8 f3 49.a7 f2 50.Rb1 f1Q 51.Rxf1 Rb2+ 52.Ka8 Rb3 53.Rc1 Kg6 54.Rc7 h5 55.Rb7 Rxh3 56.Rb6+ Kg5 57.Kb7 Ra3 58.Ra6 Rb3+ 59.Kc7 1-0
Volokitin,A (2652)-Aronian,L (2782) [C78]
Riga (7.11) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Be3 Nxe4 13.Re1 Ne7 14.dxe5 Bxe3 15.Rxe3 dxe5 16.Rd3 Nd6 17.Ng5 Nd5 18.Nxf7 Nxf7 19.Bxd5 Bxd5 20.Rxd5 Qh4 21.Nd2 0-0 22.Qg4 Qxg4 23.hxg4 c6 24.Rd7 Ng5 25.Ra7 Rbd8 26.Nb3 c5 27.Nxc5 Rd2 28.Nd7 Rd8 29.Nxe5 Rxb2 30.Re1 h6 31.Ng6 Kh7 32.Nh4 b4 33.Ree7 Rg8 34.cxb4 Rxb4 35.f3 h5 36.Nf5 hxg4 37.Rxg7+ Kh8 38.Rxg8+ Kxg8 39.Rg7+ 1-0
Donchenko,A (2648)-Vitiugov,N(2727) [A28]
Riga (7.12) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 Bb4 5.d3 d6 6.a3 Bc5 7.b4 Bb6 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.fxe3 0-0 10.Be2 Ne7 11.0-0 Ng6 12.a4 a5 13.b5 Qe7 14.Qe1 c6 15.Nh4 Nxh4 16.Qxh4 Re8 17.Rab1 Be6 18.Rb2 Rac8 19.Qg3 d5 20.bxc6 bxc6 21.Qxe5 dxc4 22.dxc4 Qa7 23.Qg3 Nd7 24.e5 Nc5 25.Rd2 Rb8 26.Rd4 Rb2 27.Bf3 Nb3 28.c5 Nxd4 29.exd4 Qd7 30.Rd1 Bb3 31.Rd3 Bc2 32.Rd2 Reb8 33.e6 fxe6 34.Qd6 Qxd6 35.cxd6 Kf8 36.Bxc6 Bf5 37.Rxb2 Rxb2 38.Nb5 Rd2 39.h3 Kf7 40.g4 Bc2 41.d7 Ke7 42.Nd6 Rxd4 43.Nb7 Bd3 44.Kf2 Ba6 45.Nc5 Rd6 46.Be4 h6 47.Ke3 Bc4 48.Bb7 Bd5 49.h4 Bxb7 50.Nxb7 Rxd7 51.Nxa5 e5 52.Ke4 Ke6 53.Nc6 Rd1 54.a5 Re1+ 55.Kd3 Kd6 0-1
Harikrishna,P (2719)-Chigaev,M (2639) [D85]
Riga (7.13) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.h3 0-0 9.Be2 b5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.cxd4 Bb7 12.Qd3 b4 13.Bf4 Ba6 14.Qe3 Bxe2 15.Qxe2 a5 16.Rac1 Qb6 17.d5 a4 18.Be5 Bxe5 19.Nxe5 b3 20.axb3 Qxb3 21.Qd2 a3 22.Ra1 a2 23.Rfe1 Rc8 24.Qf4 f6 25.Qg4 Qc3 26.Qe6+ Kh8 27.Nf7+ Kg7 28.Nd8 Rxd8 29.Qxe7+ Kh6 30.Qxd8 Qe5 31.d6 1-0
Xiong,J (2700)-Shevchenko,K (2632) [A48]
Riga (7.16) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nbd2 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.c3 0-0 6.Be2 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.Qc2 Qe7 11.Nc4 b6 12.Bg5 Ba6 13.Ne3 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Qe6 15.f3 h6 16.Bh4 Nh5 17.Qc4 Qxc4 18.Nxc4 f6 19.Rfd1 Rfd8 20.b4 Nf4 21.Kf1 Kf8 22.Bf2 Ke8 23.g3 Ne6 24.Ke2 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rd8 26.Ra1 h5 27.Be3 f5 28.Bd2 Bf6 29.a4 a6 30.Be3 Rd7 31.a5 b5 32.Nb2 f4 33.Bf2 g5 34.c4 c6 35.Rc1 g4 36.fxg4 hxg4 37.cxb5 cxb5 38.Nd3 f3+ 39.Kd2 Ng5 40.Re1 Rh7 41.h4 gxh3 42.Bc5 f2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…e1=Q/R/B 2.Rf3#; 1…e1=S 2.Rd2#; 1…Ke1 2.Qg3#.
