By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
The FIDE Online Nations Cup started on May 5 on the chess.com server with six teams competing for the lion’s share of the $180,000 prize fund.
The teams are: USA, Russia, China, India, Europe, and the Rest of the World (ROW).
They will play a double round robin with the top two teams qualifying for a super final.
Except for world champion Magnus Carlsen, most of the world’s top players are here competing for their respective teams.
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez, and Hikaru Nakamura banner the American side; Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin lead the Russian charge; China has Liren Ding, Wei Yi and Yangyi Yu; India fielded Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna; Europe has Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian; and ROW fielded Teimour Radjabov, Aliresa Firouzja and Bassem Amin.
Each team has a female player in the lineup, and the event is played on four boards.
After two rounds of play, China is leading after winning their first two outing, and USA is second.
The standings after Round 2 (preliminary): 1. China, 4; 2. USA, 3; 3. ROW, 2; 4-6. India, Russia, Europe, 1.
Artemiev, V (2716)-Aronian, L (2773) [E20]
chess.com (1.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 0-0 5.Nf3 c5 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Rc1 b6 9.g3 Bb7 10.Bg2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 cxd4 12.Qxd4 Nc6 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.0-0 Rfd8 15.e4 Rac8 16.Rd1 d6 17.b3 Ne5 18.Nd4 a6 19.Re3 Qc7 20.h3 h6 21.Qb2 Qc5 22.a4 Kf8 23.Kh2 a5 24.Qe2 Nc6 25.Red3 Nxd4 26.Rxd4 Rc7 27.Qd2 Rcd7 28.Rd3 Ke7 29.f4 Bc6 30.Rf1 g5 31.fxg5 hxg5 32.Rd5 Bxd5 33.Qxg5+ Kf8 34.cxd5 Re7 35.e5 Rc8 36.Rf4 dxe5 37.Rc4 exd5 38.Qh6+ Ke8 39.Rxc5 Rxc5 40.Qxb6 Rec7 41.Bxd5 Rc2+ 42.Bg2 e4 43.Qb5+ R7c6 44.h4 Kf8 45.Qb8+ Ke7 46.Kh3 f5 47.Qe5+ Re6 48.Qxf5 1-0
Yu, Y (2709)-Amin, B (2686) [E92]
chess.com (1.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh6 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.0-0 g4 13.Ne1 Qxd1 14.Rxd1 c6 15.c5 Nf7 16.Bc4 Na6 17.Na4 Rb8 18.f4 gxf3 19.Nxf3 Bg4 20.h3 Bxf3 21.Rxf3 Nc7 22.Rd7 Nb5 23.Bxe5 fxe5 24.Rfxf7 Rxf7 25.Rxf7 Kh8 26.Bxb5 cxb5 27.Nc3 b4 28.Nd5 a5 29.Kh2 h6 30.h4 h5 31.b3 Kh7 32.Kh3 Rc8 33.Ne7 Rc7 34.g4 hxg4+ 35.Kxg4 Rd7 36.h5 Rd2 37.Nf5 Rg2+ 38.Kf3 Rxa2 39.Rxg7+ Kh8 40.h6 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Artemiev, V (2716) [A25]
chess.com (2.2) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 0-0 8.0-0 Re8 9.Nc2 d6 10.Qd2 a5 11.b3 Bf5 12.Ne3 Be4 13.Bb2 Bxg2 14.Nxg2 Nd7 15.Nd5 Bxb2 16.Qxb2 Nb4 17.Ngf4 Nxd5 18.cxd5 Qf6 19.Qd2 Nc5 20.f3 Qe5 21.e4 b5 22.Rac1 f5 23.exf5 Qxf5 24.Rfe1 b4 25.Qd4 Qf7 26.Ne6 Nxe6 27.dxe6 Rxe6 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Rxc7 Qe5 30.Qxe5 dxe5 31.Rc5 a4 32.Rxe5 axb3 33.axb3 Ra1+ 34.Kg2 Rb1 35.Re3 Rb2+ 36.Kh3 h5 37.g4 hxg4+ 38.fxg4 g5 39.Kg3 Rb1 40.h3 Kf7 41.Kf3 Rf1+ 42.Ke4 Ke6 43.Kd4+ Kd6 44.Kc4 Rf4+ 45.Kb5 Rd4 46.Re8 Rf4 47.Rg8 Rf3 48.Kxb4 Rxh3 49.Rxg5 Rh1 50.Kb5 Rg1 51.b4 Rb1 52.Rg8 Rb2 53.g5 Ke6 54.g6 Kf6 55.Kc5 Rc2 56.Kb6 1-0
Giri,A (2764)-Yu,Y (2709) [C42]
chess.com (2.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Bd3 Bf5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 d5 9.Nbd2 Nd6 10.Nf1 Nd7 11.Bxf5 Nxf5 12.Qd3 g6 13.Bf4 Re8 14.Re2 Bd6 15.Rxe8+ Qxe8 16.Re1 Qf8 17.Bxd6 Nxd6 18.Ne5 Rd8 19.Ne3 c6 20.N3g4 f6 21.Nxd7 Rxd7 22.Re6 Ne4 23.f3 Kf7 24.fxe4 Kxe6 25.Qh3 f5 26.Ne5 Re7 27.exd5+ cxd5 28.Qa3 Qb8 29.Qe3 Kf6 30.Qh6 Rxe5 31.dxe5+ Qxe5 32.h4 Qe7 33.c3 b6 34.a4 Ke6 35.h5 Kf6 36.hxg6 hxg6 37.Qh8+ Kg5 38.Kh2 Qe4 39.Qd8+ Kg4 40.Qf6 g5 41.Qh6 Qe5+ 42.Kg1 Qe1+ 43.Kh2 Qh4+ 0-1
Cori, J (2652)-Adhiban, B (2659) [D45]
chess.com (2.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 e5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Be2 e4 11.Nd2 Nb8 12.Nb5 Nc6 13.Nxd6 Qxd6 14.Qc5 Qd8 15.h3 Be6 16.0-0 Rc8 17.Rfc1 Qd7 18.Qb5 Rfd8 19.Bf1 Ne8 20.Rc5 Nd6 21.Qa4 b6 22.Rc3 Na5 23.Qxd7 Bxd7 24.a4 Rxc3 25.Bxc3 Rc8 26.Bb4 Rc2 27.Bxd6 Rxd2 28.Rc1 Nxb3 29.Rc7 Be6 30.Rxa7 h5 31.Bb5 h4 32.Be7 f6 33.Bd8 Nc1 34.Bxb6 Nd3 35.Re7 Bf5 36.Bc6 Kf8 37.Rc7 Rd1+ 38.Kh2 Nxf2 39.g4 Be6 40.Ba5 Nd3 41.Bb5 Rb1 42.Rc2 g5 43.Bc3 Kf7 44.Ra2 f5 45.gxf5 Bxf5 46.Bc6 Ke6 47.a5 g4 48.hxg4 Bxg4 49.a6 Nb4 50.a7 Nxa2 51.Bxd5+ Kf6 52.a8Q Bf3 53.Qf8+ Kg6 54.Bf7+ Kg5 55.Qg7+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd3!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxd6+ 2.Sxd6#; 1…Sc5 2.Sb6#; 1…Sef4 2.Qb4#; 1…Sdf4 2.Qxd4#./PN
