The first of the best of three matches between Magnus Carlsen versus Wesley So and Sergey Karjakin against Daniil Dubov in the ongoing Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge on the chess24.com playing server ended rather easily in favor of Carlsen and Dubov.
Carlsen slammed So, 2½-½, while Dubov drubbed Karjakin, 3-0. It enabled the victors to join Hikaru Nakamura and Yangyi Yu who earlier defeated Levon Aronian and Liren Ding, respectively.
Another match victory for Carlsen, Dubov, Nakamura, and Yu against the same opponents will advance them to the semifinal phase of the event which is the second leg of the $1-million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
Dubov, D (2699)-Karjakin, S (2752) [E06]
chess24.com (1.11) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Ne5 c5 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ 9.Nxd1 Bxc5 10.Ne3 c3 11.bxc3 Nbd7 12.Nd3 Rb8 13.Nc4 b6 14.Bf4 Bb7 15.Bxb8 Bxg2 16.Bd6 Bxh1 17.Bxf8 Kxf8 18.f3 Bg2 19.Nf4 Bh1 20.Kf1 b5 21.Nb2 e5 22.Nfd3 Ba3 23.Nd1 e4 24.N3f2 Bxf3 25.exf3 exf3 26.Rb1 a6 27.Rb3 Bc5 28.c4 bxc4 29.Rxf3 Ne5 30.Rf5 Nfd7 31.Ne4 Bd4 32.Ke2 g6 33.Rf1 Ke7 34.Ne3 f5 35.Nd5+ Ke6 36.Nf4+ Ke7 37.Rd1 Bb2 38.Nd5+ Ke6 39.Ng5+ Kd6 40.Nf6+ Kc6 41.Nxd7 Nxd7 42.Nxh7 Nb6 43.Nf8 Nd5 44.Rf1 c3 45.Nxg6 c2 46.Kd2 Nb4 47.a4 Kd6 48.h4 c1Q+ 49.Rxc1 Bxc1+ 50.Kxc1 Nd3+ 51.Kc2 Nf2 52.h5 Ng4 53.Kd3 Kc5 54.Nh4 Kb4 55.Nxf5 Kxa4 56.h6 Nf6 57.Kc4 Ka5 58.Ne3 Nh7 59.Nd5 Ka4 60.g4 a5 61.Nc3+ Ka3 62.Ne4 a4 63.Kc3 Ka2 64.g5 Nf8 65.Kc2 a3 66.Nc3+ Ka1 67.Kb3 a2 68.Nxa2 Kb1 69.Nb4 Kc1 70.Kc3 Kd1 71.Kd3 Ne6 72.h7 1-0
Carlsen, M (2863)-So, Wesley (2770) [E21]
chess24.com (1.11) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.Rc1 cxd4 7.Nxd4 h6 8.Bh4 d5 9.cxd5 g5 10.Bg3 Qxd5 11.e3 Qxa2 12.Qc2 Bxc3+ 13.Qxc3 Ne4 14.Qc2 Qa5+ 15.Ke2 Nxg3+ 16.hxg3 Kg7 17.f4 Bd7 18.b4 Qxb4 19.fxg5 Rc8 20.gxh6+ Kh8 21.Qxc8+ Bxc8 22.Rxc8+ Kh7 23.Nf3 f6 24.Kf2 Qb2+ 25.Be2 Na6 26.Rxa8 Nc5 27.Rd1 Ne4+ 28.Kg1 f5 29.Bd3 Qf2+ 30.Kh1 Qxe3 31.Bxe4 fxe4 32.Rd7+ Kg6 33.Rg8+ 1-0
Karjakin, S (2752)-Dubov, D (2699) [C55]
chess24.com (1.12) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.c3 g5 6.a4 g4 7.Nfd2 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.a5 Bg7 10.a6 b6 11.h3 Nf4 12.Ne4 gxh3 13.g3 Ne6 14.Qf3 Bd7 15.Rxh3 Qe7 16.Rh5 0-0-0 17.Be3 Rhf8 18.Rf5 Kb8 19.Na3 Nf4 20.Nd2 Bxf5 21.Qxc6 Bc8 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2863) [C65]
chess24.com (1.12) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Qe7 7.Nbd2 Bg4 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nc4 Nd7 10.a3 a6 11.b4 Ba7 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Nxe3 f6 14.Nf5 Qf8 15.Ng3 Bf7 16.Qd2 g6 17.Nh2 h5 18.f4 exf4 19.Qxf4 0-0-0 20.e5 f5 21.Nf3 Qe7 22.Rae1 Rde8 23.h4 Bd5 24.Ng5 c5 25.Re3 b5 26.Ne2 Bb7 27.Nc3 cxb4 28.axb4 Nf6 29.Rfe1 Ng4 30.R3e2 c5 31.e6 cxb4 32.Nf7 Qc7 33.Qxc7+ Kxc7 34.Nxh8 Rxh8 35.Nd1 Re8 36.e7 Bd5 37.Ne3 Nxe3 38.Rxe3 a5 39.Kf2 a4 40.Kg3 a3 41.Kf4 b3 42.cxb3 b4 43.d4 Kd6 44.Re5 a2 45.Ra1 Bxb3 46.Rb5 Rxe7 47.Rxb4 Re4+ 48.Kg5 Rg4+ 49.Kf6 Rg3 50.Rb5 Bc4 51.Rc5 Bd5 52.Ra5 Bb3 53.Rc1 Rxg2 54.Rcc5 Rg1 55.Ra6+ Kd7 56.Ra7+ Kd6 57.Ra6+ Kd7 58.Rca5 Bc4 59.Ra7+ Kd6 60.Ra8 f4 61.Rd8+ Kc7 62.Rda8 f3 63.Rxa2 Bxa2 64.Rxa2 Kd6 0-1
Dubov, D (2699)-Karjakin, S (2752) [A53]
chess24.com (1.13) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.e3 Bg7 6.Bd3 Bc8 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 Nc6 9.d5 Nb4 10.Be2 c5 11.Bf4 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nd7 14.Be2 Na6 15.Qd2 Re8 16.Be3 Nc7 17.Rad1 Rb8 18.g3 a6 19.a4 e6 20.Kg2 exd5 21.exd5 Na8 22.b3 Qb6 23.Qc2 Rxe3 24.fxe3 Qd8 25.Rf2 Qe7 26.Rdf1 Rf8 27.Qd2 Bh6 28.Nd1 Ne5 29.a5 Nc7 30.Nb2 Ne8 31.Nd3 Bg7 32.Nxe5 Bxe5 33.e4 Nf6 34.Bd3 Nd7 35.Bc2 Bd4 36.Rf4 Bg7 37.R4f2 Ne5 38.Qe2 h5 39.Qd2 Kh7 40.Bd1 Bh6 41.Qc3 Bg7 42.Qd2 Rc8 43.Bc2 Rc7 44.Qe1 Kg8 45.Qd2 Kf8 46.Bd1 Ke8 47.Bc2 Kd8 48.Bb1 Kc8 49.Bc2 Kb8 50.Bb1 Ka7 51.Bc2 Kb8 52.Bb1 Rc8 53.Bc2 Rh8 54.Bb1 Bh6 55.Qc3 Rh7 56.Bc2 Bg5 57.Bb1 Qf8 58.Bc2 Qe8 59.Bb1 Qd7 60.Bc2 Rg7 61.Bd1 Rg8 62.Bc2 Re8 63.Bb1 Re7 64.Bc2 Kc8 65.Bb1 Kd8 66.Bc2 Ke8 67.Bb1 Kf8 68.Bc2 Kg8 69.Bb1 Re8 70.Bc2 Rb8 71.Bd1 Bh6 72.Bc2 Bg7 73.Qd2 b5 74.axb6 Rxb6 75.Bd1 Qb7 76.Qg5 Qc7 77.g4 hxg4 78.Bxg4 Rb7 79.Rxf7 Nxf7 80.Be6 Qb8 81.Qxg6 Qe8 82.e5 dxe5 83.d6 Kf8 84.Qf5 Qc6+ 85.Bd5 Qd7 86.Bxf7 Qxf5 87.Rxf5 Rxb3 88.Bd5+ Ke8 89.Rf7 Bh6 90.Re7+ Kf8 91.Rf7+ Ke8 92.Rf6 Bg7 93.Bc6+ Kd8 94.Re6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Kc3!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sxc6 2.Sxc6#; 1…Sxb5+ 2.Rxb5#; 1…Sb3 2.Kxb3#; 1…Sxf3 2.Sxf3#; 1…Sc2 2.Kxc2#; 1…Sxe2+ 2.Rxe2#./PN
