World champion Magnus Carlsen and world number four Ian Nepomniachtchi shared the lead after Round 5 of the Legends of Chess Online Rapid Tournament being conducted on the chess24.com server.
Carlsen slammed Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk in Rounds 3, 4 and 5, respectively, while Nepomniachtchi defeated Anish Giri, Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler during the same stretch.
On the other hand, Vladimir Kramnik dislodged Svidler from 3rd place after beating Liren Ding in Round 5.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand, meanwhile, remained winless after five matches. Round 5 standings: 1. Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, 14; 3. Kramnik 10; 4. Svidler 9; 5. Giri, 8; 6. Gelfand, 6; 7. Ivanchuk, 5; 8 Leko, 4; 9. Ding, 3; 10. Anand, 2.
Carlsen, M (2863)-Leko, P (2663) [A35]
chess24.com (3.4) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.exd4 d5 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Bg5 e6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Be2 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.h3 Bh5 12.Re1 h6 13.Bh4 Rc8 14.Ne5 Bxe2 15.Rxe2 g5 16.Bg3 Bb4 17.Rc1 Bxc3 18.Rxc3 Ne4 19.Rcc2 Re8 20.Nxc6 Rxc6 21.Rxc6 bxc6 22.Bh2 Re6 23.f3 Nd6 24.Rxe6 fxe6 25.Qa4 Qd7 26.Qb4 Nc8 27.Qb8 Kf7 28.Be5 Kg8 29.b4 Kf7 30.a4 Ke7 31.a5 Kd8 32.a6 Ke8 33.Kh2 Kf7 34.Qb7 Ke8 35.g4 Ne7 36.Qb8+ Nc8 37.Kg3 Kd8 38.Qb7 Nd6 39.Qxd7+ Kxd7 40.Bxd6 Kxd6 41.f4 Ke7 42.h4 Kf6 43.hxg5+ hxg5 44.fxg5+ Kxg5 45.Kf3 Kg6 46.Kf4 Kf6 47.g5+ Kg6 48.Ke5 Kxg5 49.Kxe6 Kf4 50.Kd6 Ke4 51.Kxc6 Kxd4 52.b5 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-Gelfand, B (2676) [B32]
chess24.com (4.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Qe2 Bb4 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.e5 Nd7 11.f4 a6 12.Qh5 Rd8 13.Bd3 Nf8 14.Rhf1 Be7 15.Rf3 f5 16.g4 g6 17.Qh3 d4 18.Ne2 a5 19.a4 Nb4 20.Bxb4 Qxb4 21.Bb5 Bd7 22.Rxd4 Bxb5 23.Rxb4 fxg4 24.Qxg4 Bxe2 25.Rd4 Bc5 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Kb1 Rd1+ 28.Ka2 Rg1 29.Qh3 1-0
Ivanchuk, V (2678)-Carlsen, M (2863) [E00]
chess24.com (5.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5 h6 4.Bh4 Be7 5.e3 b6 6.Be2 Bb7 7.Bf3 Bxf3 8.Nxf3 Ne4 9.Qc2 f5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Ne5 0-0 12.0-0 Qe8 13.f3 Nf6 14.Nc3 d6 15.Nd3 Nbd7 16.Rae1 Qf7 17.e4 fxe4 18.fxe4 e5 19.d5 Qg6 20.Nb5 Rfc8 21.Nb4 a6 22.Nc6 Kh8 23.Nc3 Rf8 24.b4 Rf7 25.Rf3 Raf8 26.Ref1 Nb8 27.Nxb8 Rxb8 28.Qa4 Ra8 29.c5 bxc5 30.bxc5 dxc5 31.Qc6 Rb8 32.Rg3 Qh7 33.Rf5 Rbf8 34.Rgf3 Qg6 35.Qxc5 Rb8 36.Qf2 Nxe4 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Giri, A (2764) [B90]
chess24.com (3.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f4 0-0 9.g4 exf4 10.Bxf4 d5 11.e5 Nfd7 12.Qxd5 Bh4+ 13.Ke2 Nc6 14.Bg2 Ncxe5 15.Raf1 Ng6 16.Bd2 Rb8 17.Kd1 b5 18.Qh5 Nde5 19.Kc1 Nc4 20.Be4 Be6 21.Rd1 Nxd2 22.Nxd2 Bg5 23.h4 Bf6 24.Nf3 Qa5 25.Ng5 Rfc8 26.Qxh7+ Kf8 27.Nxe6+ fxe6 28.Bxg6 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Svidler, P (2723) [C84]
chess24.com (5.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c3 0-0 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.Nf1 h6 11.Ng3 b5 12.Bb3 Na5 13.Bc2 c5 14.d4 cxd4 15.cxd4 Nc6 16.d5 Nb4 17.Bb1 a5 18.a3 Na6 19.b4 Bd7 20.Bd2 axb4 21.axb4 Qb8 22.Bd3 Be7 23.Qe2 Rc8 24.Nh4 g6 25.h3 Kg7 26.Nf3 Bd8 27.Kh2 Bb6 28.Rf1 Nc7 29.Nh4 Rxa1 30.Rxa1 Nce8 31.f4 exf4 32.Bxf4 Bd4 33.Rf1 Be5 34.Bxe5 dxe5 35.Qb2 Ng8 36.Nf3 f6 37.Nd2 Nd6 38.Nb3 Nb7 39.Rc1 Rxc1 40.Qxc1 Ne7 41.Nc5 Be8 42.Ne6+ Kh7 43.Qf1 Ng8 44.Bxb5 Nd6 45.Bxe8 Nxe8 46.Qa6 Nd6 47.Qc6 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Kramnik, V (2753) [D37]
chess24.com (5.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 h6 8.Bh4 Be7 9.Qc2 0-0 10.Bd3 Re8 11.Nd2 Nf8 12.0-0 Nh5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Rae1 Ne6 15.f4 Nf6 16.Nf3 c5 17.Qf2 Bd7 18.Ne5 Bc6 19.Bf5 Rad8 20.g4 Ne4 21.Nxe4 dxe4 22.Nxc6 bxc6 23.Bxe4 Qd6 24.f5 Ng5 25.Bg2 Rb8 26.Qf4 Qe7 27.b3 cxd4 28.f6 Qb4 29.fxg7 dxe3 30.h4 e2 31.Qxb4 Rxb4 32.Rf2 Ne6 33.Rexe2 Rxg4 34.Kh2 Rxh4+ 35.Kg3 Rh5 36.Bxc6 Rc8 37.Bd7 Rc3+ 38.Kg2 Rg5+ 39.Kf1 Nd4 40.Re4 Nf3 41.Bg4 Ne5 42.Bf5 Rc1+ 43.Re1 Rxe1+ 44.Kxe1 Kxg7 45.b4 h5 46.b5 Rg3 47.a4 Nf3+ 48.Kf1 Rg1+ 49.Ke2 Nd4+ 50.Ke3 Nb3 51.Bc2 Na5 52.Rf5 Rg3+ 53.Kd4 h4 54.Rh5 Rg4+ 55.Kd5 Rc4 56.Be4 Rxa4 57.Rxh4 f5 58.Rf4 fxe4 59.Rxe4 Rxe4 60.Kxe4 Kf6 61.Kd5 Ke7 62.Kc5 Kd7 63.b6 a6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nde5! Black’s futile options are 1…dxe5 2.Qxe5#; 1…Rb3 2.Rxc4#; 1…c3 2.Qxb6#; 1…fxg2 2.f3#; 1…Rxh4 2.Sxf3#./PN
