By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
With still a round to go, the quartet of Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Liren Ding and Hikaru Nakamura qualified to the Final Four knockout stage of the ongoing Magnus Carlsen Invitational being played online on the chess24.com server.
Caruana defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the second day of Round 6, 2½-1½, while Nakamura outplayed Ding in Armageddon, 3-2.
Vachier-Lagrave’s loss meant no more players can overtake any of the four who qualified.
The no-bearing Round 7 will still be played, and the pairings will be Ding against Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi versus Aliresa Firouzja, Vachier-Lagrave against Nakamura and Anish Giri verus Caruana.
Although the results will no longer affect the qualifiers, the matches will still be very interesting.
The standings after Round 6: 1-3. Nakamura, Carlsen, Caruana, 13; 4. Ding, 12; 5-6. Nepomniachtch, Firouzja, 6; 7. Vachier-Lagrave, 5; 8. Giri, 4;
Caruana, F (2835)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [D12]
chess24.com (6.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Be4 7.f3 Bg6 8.Qb3 Qc7 9.Bd2 Be7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.0-0-0 a6 13.Kb1 Nc6 14.Rc1 Rb8 15.Bd3 Rxh2 16.Ne2 Rxh1 17.Rxh1 b5 18.e4 Qb6 19.Qd1 Nb4 20.Bxb4 Bxb4 21.e5 Nd7 22.f4 Nf8 23.g4 Be7 24.Ng3 Rc8 25.Rh8 Kd8 26.Bc2 f5 27.exf6 gxf6 28.Bxg6 Kc7 29.Bc2 Kb8 30.Ne2 Qc7 31.a4 bxa4 32.Bxa4 Nd7 33.Rh7 Nb6 34.Bb3 Qd6 35.Qd3 Nc4 36.Bxc4 Rxc4 37.Qe3 Rc7 38.Nc3 Rb7 39.f5 exf5 40.gxf5 Bd8 41.Rxb7+ Kxb7 42.Na4 Ka7 43.Qe8 Bc7 44.Nc5 Qf4 45.Qc8 Qf1+ 46.Ka2 Qc4+ 47.Ka3 1-0
Caruana, F (2835)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778) [A88]
chess24.com (6.3) 2020
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.d5 e5 9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.b3 Na6 11.Bb2 Qe7 12.e3 Nc5 13.Qe2 Rad8 14.Rad1 h6 15.Qc2 Bf7 16.Ne2 Nce4 17.Nd2 Nc5 18.Nf3 Rfe8 19.Ned4 Nce4 20.Nd2 d5 21.cxd5 Bxd5 22.N2f3 Ng4 23.Rde1 c5 24.Nb5 Bxb2 25.Qxb2 a6 26.Nc3 Qg7 27.Rc1 Bc6 28.h3 Ngf6 29.Nxe4 Nxe4 30.Qc2 b5 31.Rfd1 Kh7 32.Nd2 Rc8 33.Nxe4 Bxe4 34.Bxe4 Rxe4 35.Rd6 c4 36.Rcd1 Re7 37.Rxa6 Rd7 38.Rxd7 Qxd7 39.bxc4 bxc4 40.Ra3 Rc7 41.Rc3 Qd5 42.a4 h5 43.a5 Qxa5 44.Rxc4 Rxc4 45.Qxc4 Qa1+ 46.Kh2 Qa7 47.Qf4 Qd7 48.Qe5 Qb7 49.Qd6 Qb2 50.Qe7+ Kh6 51.Kg2 Qb3 52.g4 hxg4 53.hxg4 fxg4 54.Qh4+ Kg7 55.Qxg4 Qd5+ 56.Kg3 Qc6 57.Qd4+ Kh7 58.e4 Qb7 59.e5 Qb3+ 60.f3 Qb1 61.Kf4 Qf5+ 62.Ke3 Qg5+ 63.Kd3 Qf5+ 64.Qe4 Qe6 65.Ke3 Kg7 66.Kf4 Qf7+ 67.Kg3 Qb3 68.Qd4 Qe6 69.Qd6 Qf5 70.Qe7+ Kg8 71.Qd8+ Kg7 72.Qc7+ Kg8 73.Qc4+ Kg7 74.Qf4 Qe6 75.Qd4 Kf7 76.f4 Qb3+ 77.Kh4 Qb7 78.Qd1 Kg7 79.Qa1 Qe7+ 80.Kg3 Qe6 81.Qa7+ Kg8 82.Qb8+ Kf7 83.Qc7+ Kg8 84.Qd6 Qf5 85.e6 Qe4 86.Kf2 Kg7 87.Qe7+ Kh6 88.Qd6 Kg7 89.Qc7+ Kh6 90.e7 Qd4+ 91.Ke2 Qe4+ 92.Kd2 Qd4+ 93.Kc2 Qa4+ 94.Kc3 Qa3+ 95.Kd4 Qb4+ 96.Kd5 Qb5+ 97.Kd6 Qd3+ 98.Kc6 Qe4+ 99.Kd7 Qd5+ 100.Qd6 Qb7+ 101.Ke6 Qc8+ 102.Kf7 Qf5+ 103.Qf6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Caruana, F (2835) [A00]
chess24.com (6.4) 2020
1.e3 e5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nge2 c6 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 Bc7 7.d4 0-0 8.Bb2 d5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nb5 e4 11.Nxc7 Qxc7 12.Rc1 Qe7 13.Nf4 Be6 14.Be2 Nbd7 15.0-0 Rfc8 16.Qb3 Nb6 17.Rc5 Nfd7 18.Rd1 a6 19.a4 Rd8 20.Rc7 Qd6 21.Rdc1 Rac8 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.Rc5 Qe7 24.Rxc8+ Nxc8 25.b5 axb5 26.Qxb5 Nf6 27.h4 h6 28.Qc5 Qd8 29.Ba3 Bf5 30.Bb5 g5 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Ne2 Kg7 33.Bb4 Be6 34.a5 b6 35.axb6 Qxb6 36.f4 exf3 37.Qf8+ Kg6 38.Bd3+ Bf5 39.Bxf5+ Kxf5 40.Qxc8+ Kg6 41.Ng3 Qxb4 42.Qf5+ Kg7 43.Qxg5+ Kf8 44.Qxf6 Qe1+ 45.Nf1 1-0
Ding, L (2791)-Nakamura, H (2736) [A29]
chess24.com (6.5) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3 0-0 9.d3 Be6 10.Be3 Nd5 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.Qa4 Re8 13.Rac1 a6 14.Rc3 Bf6 15.Rd1 Nd4 16.Rd2 Nxf3+ 17.Bxf3 Bxf3 18.exf3 c6 19.Kg2 g6 20.Qe4 Bg7 21.b4 f5 22.Qc4+ Kh8 23.d4 e4 24.d5 exf3+ 25.Kxf3 Qe7 26.Rcc2 cxd5 27.Rxd5 Rad8 28.Kg2 b5 29.Qd3 Qb7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxe7 2.Qe8#; 1…Kxf7 2.g8=Q/B#; 1…Bxe7 2.Qxa2#./PN
