Round 2 of the ongoing FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, Latvia, turned out to be more action-packed than tyhe opening round, churning out 32 decisive games that led to three players scoring their second consecutive wins and sharing the lead in the 108-player field.
The three are Alireza Firouzja (now playing under the French flag), Alexandr Predke of Russia, and Ivan Saric of Croatia. Firouzja defeated Dariusz Swiercz using the Sicilian Najdorf in 61 moves; Saric upset Kirill Alekseenko; while Predke pounded Nodirbek Yakubboev. Each now has 2 points to tow a large group of 31 players led by top seed Fabiano Caruana with 1½ points apiece and sharing 4th to 34th slots.
Caruana’s advance was stalled by India’s Sarin Nihal who held the world’s two player to a draw.
Meanwhile, 2nd seed Levon Aronian bounced back from a draw yesterday by beating Hans Moke Niemann in 42 moves of an Italian Game. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also started his drive by winning his Round 2 game against Iran’s M. Amin Tabatabaei.
Swiercz,D (2647)-Firouzja,A (2770) [B93]
Riga (2.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.Bd3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Kh1 Nbd7 11.a4 Nc5 12.a5 Bd7 13.Be3 Rae8 14.Qd2 exf4 15.Bxf4 Bc6 16.Rfe1 Nh5 17.Be3 Bf6 18.Bd4 Bxd4 19.Nxd4 Nf6 20.Nf5 Re5 21.Qg5 Ne6 22.Qh4 Qd8 23.Rf1 Kh8 24.Rae1 Ng8 25.Qg3 g6 26.Ne3 Nf6 27.Nc4 Nh5 28.Qe3 Rg5 29.Re2 Rg4 30.Ref2 Qh4 31.Ne2 Qe7 32.Nd4 Kg8 33.Nxc6 bxc6 34.e5 Qh4 35.Rf3 Rxc4 36.Bxc4 Qxc4 37.exd6 Qd5 38.Qf2 Ng5 39.Rd3 Qxa5 40.d7 Ne6 41.Rd6 Nhg7 42.Rxc6 Qd5 43.Rxa6 Qxd7 44.Ra7 Qe8 45.c4 Nf5 46.b4 Qc6 47.Rc1 Ned4 48.Ra2 Re8 49.Rb2 Qe4 50.b5 Ne3 51.Qe1 Qf4 52.Qg3 Qf6 53.Re1 Kg7 54.Qf2 Ndf5 55.Rbb1 Ng4 56.Qf4 Qh4 57.Rf1 Re4 58.Qc7 Nxh2 59.Kg1 Nxf1 60.Rxf1 Rxc4 61.Qe5+ Qf6 0-1
Saric,I (2644)-Alekseenko,K (2710) [C89]
Riga (2.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 a5 13.Re1 a4 14.Bc2 Bf5 15.a3 Re8 16.Nd2 Bg6 17.Ne4 f5 18.Ng3 Bd6 19.Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.Bd2 Ra7 21.Qf1 Re7 22.Re1 f4 23.Rxe7 Qxe7 24.Ne4 f3 25.g3 Nf6 26.Bg5 Bxe4 27.dxe4 h6 28.Bxf6 Qxf6 29.Qd3 g5 30.h3 h5 31.e5 Qxe5 32.Qxf3 h4 33.gxh4 gxh4 34.Be4 Qg5+ 35.Qg2 Qxg2+ 36.Kxg2 c5 37.Bc6 b4 38.axb4 cxb4 39.cxb4 Bxb4 40.Bxa4 Kg7 41.f4 Bd6 42.Kf3 Kf6 43.Ke4 Bb4 44.Bd7 Bd6 45.Bg4 Bb4 46.Kd5 Bd2 47.f5 Be1 48.Kc5 Bf2+ 49.Kb5 1-0
Predke,A (2666)-Yakubboev,N (2621) [E71]
Riga (2.8), 28.10.2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5 Nc6 7.Nf3 h6 8.Be3 e5 9.d5 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Qxd4 Ng4 12.hxg4 Bxd4 13.Bxd4 Kh7 14.Be2 f5 15.exf5 gxf5 16.Rh5 Kg6 17.Kd2 fxg4 18.Rah1 Bf5 19.Rxh6+ Kf7 20.R1h5 Ke7 21.Nd1 c5 22.Bc3 Kd7 23.Ne3 Bb1 24.Bxg4+ Kc7 25.f3 Qe8 26.Rh1 Bg6 27.Re1 Rg8 28.Be6 Qf8 29.Reh1 Re8 30.R1h4 Rxe6 31.dxe6 Qe8 32.Nd5+ Kc6 33.Nf6 Qe7 34.Rg4 1-0
Aronian,L (2782)-Niemann,HM (2638) [C50]
Riga (2.11) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Re1 h6 8.Nbd2 a6 9.a4 Ba7 10.Nf1 Re8 11.Ng3 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 13.b4 d5 14.Qc2 d4 15.b5 Ne7 16.cxd4 Bxd4 17.Nxd4 Qxd4 18.Rb1 axb5 19.axb5 Qd7 20.Be3 b6 21.h3 Ra5 22.Red1 Rd6 23.d4 Rxb5 24.Rxb5 Qxb5 25.Qxc7 Rd7 26.Qc3 h5 27.f3 exd4 28.Rxd4 h4 29.Nf1 Rxd4 30.Qxd4 Nd7 31.Bf2 Ng6 32.Ne3 Nf4 33.Qd6 g5 34.Qe7 Ne2+ 35.Kh1 Ng3+ 36.Kh2 Nf8 37.Nf5 Nxf5 38.Qxg5+ Ng6 39.exf5 Qe5+ 40.Kh1 Qf4 41.Qg4 Qxg4 42.fxg4 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave,M (2763)-Tabatabaei,MA (2639) [C67]
Riga (2.12) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Be7 10.Nc3 Nh4 11.Nxh4 Bxh4 12.f4 Bf5 13.Rd1+ Ke8 14.g4 Bc8 15.Kg2 h5 16.f5 Be7 17.Kg3 hxg4 18.hxg4 Bh4+ 19.Kf3 Be7 20.Bf4 g6 21.Rh1 Rg8 22.f6 Bb4 23.Ne4 Be6 24.a3 Ba5 25.Ng5 Bd5+ 26.Kg3 Bxh1 27.Rxh1 Rf8 28.Rh7 Bb6 29.c3 Rd8 30.e6 Rd3+ 31.Kg2 Be3 32.e7 Rg8 33.Nxf7 1-0
Dreev,A (2635)-Harikrishna,P (2719) [D92]
Riga (2.15) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.Rc1 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Ng5 Bg4 9.f3 Bc8 10.Bxc4 Nc6 11.Bg3 e6 12.f4 Na5 13.Be2 c5 14.dxc5 Nd5 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.b4 Nc4 17.Bxc4 dxc4 18.0-0 Bd7 19.Ne4 a5 20.Bh4 Qc7 21.Bf6 Bc6 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Qd4+ f6 24.b5 Bxb5 25.Nd6 Ba6 26.Rb1 Rfd8 27.f5 g5 28.h4 h6 29.Rb6 Qe7 30.Rf3 Rd7 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Rg3 Kh7 33.Qg4 Kg7 34.Ne4 Rad8 35.Nxg5 Rd1+ 36.Kh2 fxg5 37.f6+ Qxf6 38.Rxf6 Rh8+ 39.Rh3 Rxh3+ 40.Qxh3 1-0
Eljanov,P (2691)-Ponomariov,R (2631) [A06]
Riga (2.21) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Ne7 6.e4 0-0 7.b4 Nbc6 8.c3 a6 9.Nbd2 d4 10.cxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Qxd4 12.Qc2 Nc6 13.Nb3 Qxb4 14.Be3 Rd8 15.Rab1 Qd6 16.Rfc1 a5 17.Bf1 h5 18.h4 Qe7 19.Nd2 Kh7 20.Nf3 f6 21.Qb2 Bh6 22.a3 Bxe3 23.fxe3 a4 24.Rc3 Ra7 25.Rbc1 Bg4 26.Qf2 Rd7 27.Nd2 Kg7 28.Kh2 Ra8 29.Rb1 Na5 30.d4 c6 31.Rb4 b5 32.d5 Rad8 33.Nf3 Rd6 34.Kg2 cxd5 35.exd5 Rxd5 36.e4 Bxf3+ 37.Kxf3 Rd4 38.Rxb5 Nb3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rd6 2.Nf3#; 1…Kxe4 2.Qe6#; 1…Nbd4 2.Nfxd3#; 1…Rxc3, Ncd4 2.Qxd5#.
