Draws in the top 13 boards in the final round kept the overall standings of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, Latvia, virtually unchanged, and so Aliresa Firouzja emerged the overall winner with a half-point spread over his two closest pursuers – Fabiano Caruana and Grigory Oparin.
Firouzja halve the point with Oparin in 28 moves of a Ruy Lopez Berlin, while Caruana tried to win versus Aleksandr Predke but was stymied by stubborn defense and had to settle for a draw. Firouzja finished with 8 points, while Caruana and Oparin wound up with 7½ points apiece. Caruana’s better tiebreak score, however, clinched the second slot to the next edition of the Candidates Tournament.
In the women’s division, Tingjie Lei emerged the runaway winner with a marvelous 9-point output – 1½ points clear of Elizabeth Paehtz and Jiner Zhu who each tallied 7½ points. The victory earned for Lei an outright spot in the Women’s Candidates.
The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss tournaments are part of the qualifications for the 2021-23 World Championship cycle, with the top two players in the Open event qualifying for the 2022 Candidates Tournament and the following six securing spots in the next Grand Prix. The winner of the Women’s Grand Swiss qualifies directly for the Women Candidates while the four best players will qualify for the next year’s Women’s Grand Prix.
Shevchenko,K (2632)-Artemiev,V (2699) [C65]
Riga (11.14) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 0-0 7.c3 a6 8.Ba4 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.Nf1 h6 11.Ng3 b5 12.Bb3 Ne7 13.a4 Rb8 14.axb5 axb5 15.d4 Ng6 16.Ra7 Rb7 17.Ra6 c5 18.Bc2 Rb8 19.Ra1 Bg4 20.h3 Bxf3 21.Qxf3 exd4 22.cxd4 cxd4 23.Qd1 d5 24.Qxd4 Rc8 25.Bb3 Bc5 26.Qd3 Ne5 27.Qxb5 Bxf2+ 28.Kxf2 Rb8 29.Qa6 Rxb3 30.Ra3 Qb8 31.Qe2 Rxg3 32.Kxg3 Nxe4+ 0-1
Sasikiran,K (2640)-Korobov,A (2690) [B90]
Riga (11.15) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.a3 b5 8.g4 Bb7 9.Bg2 Be7 10.g5 Nfd7 11.f4 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.h4 0-0 14.0-0 Qb8 15.f5 Re8 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Qg4 Bd8 18.Bh3 Bb6 19.Bxb6 Qxb6+ 20.Kh2 Ne5 21.Qg3 b4 22.axb4 Qxb4 23.Rab1 Bd7 24.h5 Rf8 25.h6 g6 26.Rbd1 a5 27.b3 Rac8 28.Rxf8+ Rxf8 29.Bg2 Rf2 30.Rf1 Nf3+ 31.Qxf3 Rxf3 32.Rxf3 Qc5 33.Rg3 Bc6 34.Ne2 Qe5 35.Nc3 Kf7 36.Kh3 Ke7 37.Kg4 Qd4 38.Kh3 Qd2 39.Nb1 Qc1 40.Nc3 Qxc2 41.Kh2 Qxb3 42.Nd5+ Bxd5 43.exd5 Qb4 44.dxe6 Kxe6 45.Re3+ Kf5 46.Re7 Kxg5 47.Rxh7 a4 0-1
Alekseenko,K (2710)-Yilmaz,M (2626) [B20]
Riga (11.16) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.h3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.c4 Ngf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Ba4 e6 7.Nge2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.d3 d5 10.Ng3 d4 11.Nce2 b5 12.cxb5 Nb6 13.Bc2 axb5 14.Bd2 Bb7 15.f4 Nfd7 16.f5 e5 17.Nh5 c4 18.Neg3 f6 19.Qg4 Rf7 20.Rf3 Kh8 21.Nh1 Nc5 22.Nf2 cxd3 23.Nxd3 Nc4 24.Nxc5 Bxc5 25.Bb3 Rd7 26.Rd1 Nxb2 27.Rg3 Nxd1 28.Qxd1 d3+ 29.Kh2 Bf2 30.Rg4 Qe8 31.Qf3 Qxh5 32.Qxf2 Qe8 33.Qh4 Rf7 34.Qh5 Kg8 35.Rh4 h6 36.Bxh6 Kf8 37.Bd2 Ra4 38.Bxa4 bxa4 39.Bb4+ Re7 40.Qd1 1-0
Grandelius,N (2662)-Bluebaum,M (2640) [C02]
Riga (11.20) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.0-0 Nf5 8.dxc5 a5 9.Bd3 Bxc5 10.a4 h6 11.Nbd2 Ba7 12.Nb3 0-0 13.Bc2 Nh4 14.Nxh4 Qxh4 15.Qd3 f5 16.exf6 Rxf6 17.Be3 Ne5 18.Qh7+ Kf7 19.Bxa7 Rxa7 20.Rae1 Ng4 21.h3 Nxf2 22.Bg6+ Ke7 23.Bf5 Kd6 24.Nd4 Ne4 25.Bxe4 Rxf1+ 26.Rxf1 Qxe4 27.Qg8 Kc5 28.Qf8+ Kc4 29.b3+ Kd3 30.Rd1+ Ke3 31.Qf2# 1-0
Moussard,J (2632)-Matlakov,M (2682) [B90]
Riga (11.21) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.g4 Nb6 11.g5 Nfd7 12.0-0-0 Qc7 13.Kb1 Rc8 14.h4 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Qxc4 16.f4 exf4 17.Bxf4 Ne5 18.Nd4 0-0 19.Nf5 Qc7 20.Nxe7+ Qxe7 21.Qxd6 Qxd6 22.Rxd6 Nc4 23.Rd3 f5 24.e5 Rc5 25.Na4 Ra5 26.b3 Rc8 27.h5 b5 28.g6 bxa4 29.Rhd1 hxg6 30.hxg6 Na3+ 31.Kb2 Re8 32.Rd8 Kf8 33.Bg5 1-0
Donchenko,A (2648)-Zvjaginsev,V (2609) [A43]
Riga (11.29) 2021
1.d4 c5 2.d5 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.c4 d6 5.Be2 e6 6.Nf3 exd5 7.cxd5 Bg4 8.Nfd2 Bxe2 9.Qxe2 Ne7 10.Nc3 Nd7 11.h4 0-0 12.h5 Re8 13.hxg6 hxg6 14.Nc4 Nf5 15.Bf4 Nb6 16.Nd2 Nd4 17.Qd3 c4 18.Qh3 g5 19.Be3 Nc2+ 20.Kd1 Nxa1 21.Nf3 Nd7 22.Bxg5 Qb6 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Bh6 Bxh6 25.Qxh6+ Ke7 26.Qg5+ f6 27.Rh7+ Kd8 28.Qg7 Nf8 29.Qxf6+ Kc8 30.Rf7 Nd7 31.Qg7 Rd8 32.Ne2 a5 33.Nf4 Qxf2 34.Ne6 Nc2 35.Qc3 Ne3+ 36.Kc1 Rg8 37.b3 Ne5 38.Nxe5 Qg1+ 39.Kb2 Nd1+ 40.Ka3 Nxc3 41.Rc7+ Kb8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ke8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kh4 2.Bf2#; 1…Kxf4 2.Bd6#; 1…Kxf6 2.Bd4#; 1…Kh6 2.Bf8#.
