MAGNUS Carlsen and Vladislav Artemiev started their quest for semifinal slots by winning the first set of their quarterfinals matches in the Goldmoney Asian Rapid Tournament at the chess24.com server.
Carlsen slipped past Wesley So, 2½-1½, while Artemiev crushed Anish Giri, 3-0. Carlsen and Artemiev only need to draw the second set to advance to the semifinals. The other two quarterfinal matches were drawn, with Levon Aronian scoring when needed to level with teen Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi, 2-2, while Liren Ding and Jan-Krzysztof Duda drew all four games of the set for a 2-2 tie.
In the knockout stage, each match will be decided over two sets. Each set will have four rapid games, and if the match ends 2-2 it will simply be a draw. If a draw arises after two sets, the players will have a playoff consisting of two blitz games followed by an Armageddon game if necessary.
Carlsen, M (2847)-So, Wesley (2770) [A28]
chess24.com (1.11) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 f5 7.d3 Be7 8.e3 Be6 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 a5 11.Rd1 Kh8 12.Na4 Qd6 13.Bd2 g5 14.d4 e4 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.Bc4 Bf6 18.Nc5 Bg8 19.Rab1 Qe7 20.Nxb7 f4 21.Nxa5 fxe3 22.fxe3 Rxa5 23.Bxd5 Rxd5 24.Bb4 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 c5 26.Bxc5 Qc7 27.b4 Re8 28.a4 Be5 29.h3 g4 30.hxg4 Qg7 31.Bd4 Be6 32.Qc6 Bd7 33.Qd7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2847) [C53]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.Nbd2 a6 9.Nf1 Ba7 10.a4 Re8 11.h3 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 13.b4 Qd7 14.Qc2 d5 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Nxe3 Ne7 17.c4 d4 18.Nf5 a5 19.b5 c5 20.N3h4 Ng6 21.g3 Ne8 22.Kh2 Nd6 23.Qe2 Nxh4 24.Nxh4 Qe7 25.Nf5 Qf6 26.Nxd6 Rxd6 27.Rf1 Re8 28.f4 Qd8 29.Qh5 f6 30.h4 Qd7 31.Rf2 Qf7 32.Qf3 exf4 33.gxf4 f5 34.e5 Rg6 35.Rg1 Rxg1 36.Kxg1 b6 37.Rg2 Kh7 38.h5 Re6 39.Kf2 Qe7 40.Qh3 Qf7 41.Ke1 g6 42.hxg6+ Rxg6 43.Qh5 Rf6 44.Qxf7+ Rxf7 45.Kf2 Re7 46.Kg3 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-So, Wesley (2770) [A28]
chess24.com (1.13) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bc5 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Kh8 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Qe7 12.Qc2 f5 13.Nd2 Be6 14.d4 Qg5 15.Rf3 fxe4 16.Nxe4 Qh6 17.Re1 b6 18.Nf2 Ne7 19.Qe4 exd4 20.cxd4 Rfe8 21.Qe5 Nd5 22.Bb5 Re7 23.Bc6 Bg8 24.Qxe7 Nxe7 25.Bxa8 Qd6 26.Be4 c5 27.Rd1 c4 28.Bb1 c3 29.d5 b5 30.Ne4 Qc7 31.Bc2 Nxd5 32.Rf8 Ne7 33.Rdd8 h6 34.Nd6 g6 35.Nc8 Qe5 36.Kf2 Kg7 37.Nxe7 Bf7 38.Nxg6 Qe6 39.Bb3 Qf6+ 40.Nf4 Qh4+ 41.Kf3 Bxb3 42.axb3 c2 43.Rg8+ Kh7 44.Rh8+ Kg7 45.Rdg8+ Kf7 46.Rf8+ Kg7 47.Ne6 1-0
Artemiev, V (2704)-Giri, A (2780) [D47]
chess24.com (1.13) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Be2 b4 9.Na4 Bb7 10.0-0 Be7 11.b3 0-0 12.Bb2 Rc8 13.Rc1 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Nxc5 Bxc5 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Rfd1 Ne4 18.Kf1 a5 19.Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.Ng5 Bxe3 21.fxe3 Nxg5 22.Rc7 Bd5 23.Ra7 h6 24.Be5 Rc8 25.Bc7 a4 26.bxa4 Bxa2 27.Ba6 Re8 28.Rb7 b3 29.Bd3 e5 30.Bxe5 Ne6 31.Bd4 Rd8 32.a5 g5 33.a6 Nxd4 34.exd4 Kg7 35.a7 Ra8 36.Bc4 1-0
Erigaisi, A (2567)-Aronian, L (2781) [E51]
chess24.com (1.12) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 Be7 10.Ne5 c5 11.Ne2 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Bc3 Qb6 15.Ng3 g6 16.b4 cxb4 17.Bd4 Qd8 18.Rc1 Bb7 19.Qf3 Qd6 20.h4 Rfc8 21.h5 a5 22.Bf5 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Ne8 24.Qg4 Ng7 25.Bxg6 fxg6 26.Bxg7 Rc8 27.Rd1 Rc2 28.Ba1 Rc4 29.Qe2 Qc6 30.Bd4 Bf6 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.Kh2 Bxd4 33.exd4 Rc2 34.Qf3 Qe6 35.Qf4 Kg7 36.Rd3 Qf6 37.Qg4 Qxf2 38.Nh5+ Kh6 39.Nf4 Rc6 40.Rh3+ Kg7 41.Qd7+ Kf6 42.Rf3 Qxd4 43.Ne2+ 1-0
Aronian, L (2781)-Erigaisi, A (2567) [A13]
chess24.com (1.13) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Qc2 b6 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Nc3 Be7 10.e4 0-0 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Rc8 13.Rd1 Bc5 14.Qe2 Qe7 15.Nb3 Ne5 16.Nxc5 Qxc5 17.Bf4 Rfd8 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rd1 Rxd1+ 20.Qxd1 Ned7 21.Be3 Qc6 22.f3 h6 23.Qa4 Qxa4 24.Nxa4 Kf8 25.Bf1 Ke7 26.h4 Ne5 27.Be2 Ne8 28.Kf2 h5 29.b3 Nc7 30.Bd4 f6 31.Ke3 Ba6 32.Bd1 Nc6 33.Bb2 Kf7 34.Nc3 Ne5 35.Ne2 Nc6 36.Nf4 e5 37.Nd3 Bxd3 38.Kxd3 Nb4+ 39.Kc4 Nxa2 40.f4 exf4 41.gxf4 g6 42.b4 a5 43.b5 Ne6 44.f5 Nc5 45.Bd4 Nd7 46.fxg6+ Kxg6 47.Kd5 Ne5 48.Bxe5 fxe5 49.Kc6 Nc3 50.Kxb6 Kf6 51.Kc6 a4 52.b6 a3 53.b7 a2 54.b8Q a1Q 55.Qf8+ Kg6 56.Qg8 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Na5 2.bxa5#; 1…Nc5 2.bxc5#; 1…Bd1 2.Qc4#./PN
