The 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament kicked off October 27th at the Hanzas Perons Cultural Centre in the Latvian capita of Riga with 108 of the world’s top grandmasters vying for slots in the next World Championship Candidates Tournament.
For a while, it seemed the event was going to be moved or scrapped because of the high incidence of Covid-19 virus infections currently plaguing Latvia that prompted lockdowns. FIDE proceeded with it, though, although a number of elite players including Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi decided not to play.
At any rate, top seed Fabiano Caruana and 3rd seed Aliresa Firouzja led the opening day winners in the Open division, the former beating Maxim Chigaev in 34 moves of a Sicilian and the latter making short work of Nijat Abasov in 28 moves of another Sicilian.
The opening round saw very few upsets and only 20 decisive games out of 54 matches. Incidentally, a separate Women’s division is running alongside the Open with 50 participants
Caruana,F (2800)-Chigaev,M (2639) [B90]
FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 Riga (1.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 h6 8.a3 Be7 9.Be3 Nc6 10.Rg1 Nd7 11.Be2 g5 12.Qd2 Nce5 13.0-0-0 b5 14.h4 Bb7 15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Rh1 Rg8 17.Rh5 Rc8 18.Rdh1 Bf6 19.f3 Qe7 20.Kb1 Nc4 21.Bxc4 Rxc4 22.b3 Rc8 23.Nd5 exd5 24.Nf5 Qe6 25.Bxg5 Bc3 26.Qh2 Ne5 27.Rh6 Rg6 28.Rxg6 Qxg6 29.Qf4 Nxf3 30.Qxf3 dxe4 31.Qe3 Bg7 32.Qa7 Qxg5 33.Qxb7 Rd8 34.Rh7 1-0
Firouzja,A (2770)-Abasov,N (2638) [C43]
Riga (1.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 Be7 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Qxd8+ Bxd8 8.Nd4 Nd7 9.Bf4 Nc5 10.0-0-0 c6 11.Bc4 Be7 12.Rhe1 a5 13.h3 h5 14.a3 Bd7 15.Kb1 b5 16.Ba2 0-0 17.g4 hxg4 18.hxg4 Bxg4 19.Nxc6 Rfe8 20.Rd5 Rac8 21.Na7 Ra8 22.Nxb5 Reb8 23.Nc7 Ra7 24.e6 Rab7 25.exf7+ Kf8 26.Be5 Nd7 27.Rxd7 Bxd7 28.Rh1 1-0
Alekseenko,K (2710)-Shevchenko,K (2632) [B51]
Riga (1.9) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 Ngf6 5.Bd3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nc5 7.Nc3 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Re1 0-0 10.Bf1 Qc7 11.a4 Rd8 12.Bf4 a6 13.e5 dxe5 14.Bxe5 Qa5 15.Qf3 Ncd7 16.Bg3 Bb4 17.Rad1 Re8 18.Nb3 Qh5 19.Qe3 e5 20.a5 e4 21.Rd4 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Ne5 23.Nc5 Nc6 24.Nxe4 Nxe4 25.Rdxe4 Rxe4 26.Rxe4 Be6 27.b4 Rd8 28.Re1 Qd5 29.f3 h6 30.Rb1 Nd4 31.Bf2 Bf5 32.Rd1 Nxf3+ 33.Qxf3 Qxd1 34.Qxf5 Rd6 35.c3 g6 36.Qc8+ Kh7 37.Qxb7 Rf6 38.Qe7 Rf5 39.Qe1 Qc2 40.Bd4 1-0
Durarbayli,V (2629)-Maghsoodloo,P (2701) [B56]
Riga (1.12) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 Be6 9.Qe2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Qc8 11.g4 a5 12.g5 Ne8 13.Nd2 Rb8 14.a4 b5 15.axb5 Nd4 16.Qd3 Nc7 17.Bxd4 exd4 18.Qxd4 Bxg5 19.Rg1 Bh6 20.f4 Bg4 21.Re1 Bd7 22.f5 Bxb5 23.Kb1 Kh8 24.Rd1 Bxf1 25.Rgxf1 Rb4 26.Nc4 Bg5 27.Qd3 Bf6 28.Na2 Rb8 29.c3 Nb5 30.Ka1 a4 31.Nxd6 Nxd6 32.Qxd6 a3 33.Qd5 Re8 34.Rfe1 h6 35.Qxf7 Rb7 36.Qd5 Re5 37.Qd6 axb2+ 38.Kb1 Ra7 39.Rd5 Re8 40.Rb5 Rxa2 41.Kxa2 Qc4+ 42.Rb3 b1Q+ 0-1
Pichot,A (2628)-Artemiev,V (2699) [C67]
Riga (1.14) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Ne8 10.c3 d6 11.Re1 d5 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Bxd6 Nxd6 14.Nd2 Bf5 15.Qf3 Qg5 16.Qe3 Qxe3 17.Rxe3 Rfe8 18.Rae1 Rxe3 19.Rxe3 f6 20.f3 Kf7 21.Kf2 g5 22.Bd3 Bxd3 23.Rxd3 a5 24.Ke1 a4 25.Re3 c6 26.Kd1 f5 27.Re5 Kf6 28.g3 h5 29.Kc2 b5 30.Kd3 Rb8 31.Re2 f4 32.gxf4 gxf4 33.b3 Nf5 34.Re1 Ra8 35.Re5 axb3 36.axb3 h4 37.h3 Ne3 38.Rh5 Nf5 39.Rh7 Rg8 40.Ra7 Rg3 41.c4 bxc4+ 42.bxc4 Ne7 43.cxd5 cxd5 44.Ne4+ dxe4+ 45.Kxe4 Ng6 46.Ra6+ Kg5 47.Ra5+ Kh6 48.d5 Rg5 49.Kd4 Rg1 50.Ke4 Kg5 51.d6+ Kf6 52.Ra6 Re1+ 53.Kd5 Kf5 54.Ra4 Ne5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.f3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rf4 2.Bxb3#; 1…Nc4 2.Bxe4#; 1…Kd4 2.Qxc3#; 1…Bf4 2.Qxe4#.
