WORLD champion Magnus Carlsen topped the preliminary round of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour – Magnus Carlsen Invitational which ended March 15 at the chess24.com server. The preliminary round determines the eight players who will advance to the quarterfinal knockout stage of the event.
Carlsen, along with early leader Anish Giri, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Aliresa Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Levon Aronian entered the next stage. Aronian barely made the cut, having tied with Sergey Karjakin for the 8th spot, but the winner over the other rule gave him the quarterfinal seat. The quarterfinal knockout pairings will be Carlsen vs. Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave vs. Giri, So vs. Firouzja, and Nepomniachtchi vs. Nakamura. They will play two matches against each other with each match consisting of four rapid games.
Final Preliminary Round Standings: 1. Carlsen, 10½; 2. Giri 10; 3. So, 9½; 4. Nakamura, 9; 5-7. Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave, 8½; 8-9. Aronian, Karjakin, 8; 10. Dubov, 7½; 11. Radjabov, 7; 12. Mamedyarov, 6½; 13-14. Grandelius, Van Foreest, 6; 15. Anton Guijarro, 4; 16. Pichot, 2½.
Nakamura, H (2736)-Aronian, L (2781) [D78]
chess24.com (9.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.d4 0-0 6.c4 c6 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Nc3 Rd8 9.h3 Bf5 10.Bf4 dxc4 11.Qxc4 Nd5 12.Ng5 Qxd4 13.Qb3 Qb6 14.Nxd5 Qxb3 15.Nxe7+ Kf8 16.axb3 Kxe7 17.e4 Be6 18.Nxe6 Kxe6 19.Rfd1 Nd7 20.h4 Nc5 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Bh3+ Ke7 23.Rxa7 Bxb2 24.b4 Nxe4 25.Rxb7+ Kf8 26.Bf1 Rd1 27.Kg2 Nf6 28.b5 Rxf1 29.bxc6 Re1 30.c7 1-0
Firouzja, A (2759)-Radjabov, T (2765) [E98]
chess24.com (9.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.b4 g5 13.c5 Rf6 14.a4 Rg6 15.Kh1 a6 16.Rg1 Nf6 17.Nf2 Nh5 18.g3 Rh6 19.Kg2 Nf6 20.a5 Qe8 21.Rh1 Qg6 22.cxd6 cxd6 23.Na4 fxg3 24.hxg3 Rxh1 25.Qxh1 g4 26.Nb6 Rb8 27.Ra3 h5 28.Qh4 gxf3+ 29.Bxf3 Bh6 30.Bxh5 Nxh5 31.Bxh6 Qf7 32.Rf3 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-Karjakin, S (2757) [D61]
chess24.com (9.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 h6 8.Bh4 c5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Be2 Bg4 14.0-0 Rac8 15.Rad1 Rfd8 16.h3 Ne6 17.Qa4 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 Qc5 19.b4 Qc4 20.Qxa7 d4 21.exd4 Nxd4 22.Bxb7 Rc7 23.Qa5 Rcd7 24.Ba6 Qe6 25.Kh1 Rd6 26.b5 g6 27.a4 Qf5 28.Qb4 Qe5 29.Qc3 Qf4 30.Bb7 Nxb5 31.Rxd6 Nxc3 32.Rxd8+ Kg7 33.a5 Qc7 34.a6 Nb5 35.Rfd1 h5 36.Kg1 h4 37.R8d7 Qc2 38.Ra1 Qc3 39.Rdd1 g5 40.a7 1-0
Giri, A (2776)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [B40]
chess24.com (10.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 Bb4 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 d4 11.Ne2 e5 12.h3 Re8 13.b4 Nd7 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Nde5 16.b5 Na5 17.Rb1 Nec4 18.Bxc4 Nxc4 19.Qd3 Be6 20.Nxd4 Nxa3 21.Rb4 Bc4 22.Rxc4 Nxc4 23.Qxc4 Rxe4 24.c3 a6 25.bxa6 Rxa6 26.Bg3 Qd7 27.Kh2 h6 28.Qd3 Re8 29.Rf5 Rg6 30.Qf3 Rg5 31.Rf4 b5 32.Bh4 Rg6 33.Nf5 Kh7 34.Bf2 Qc7 35.Bg3 Qc6 36.Nd4 Qxf3 37.Rxf3 Rb6 38.Rxf7 b4 39.cxb4 Rxb4 40.Rd7 Rb2 41.Nf5 Kg6 42.Ne7+ Kh7 43.h4 Re2 44.Nd5 Kg8 45.Kh3 Rf8 46.Nf4 Rfe8 47.Nxe2 1-0
Giri, A (2776)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2789) [B46]
chess24.com (12.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qd3 d5 8.Qg3 d4 9.Nb1 h5 10.h4 Nf6 11.e5 Ne4 12.Qf4 Bb4+ 13.Nd2 Nxd2 14.Bxd2 Bxd2+ 15.Qxd2 Qd5 16.f4 a5 17.Be2 Ba6 18.Bf3 Qc5 19.0-0-0 Rd8 20.Kb1 0-0 21.Rhg1 Rd7 22.g4 Rb8 23.Ka1 d3 24.cxd3 Rxd3 25.Qg2 hxg4 26.Bxg4 a4 27.Rxd3 Bxd3 28.Bxe6 g6 29.f5 Kf8 30.fxg6 fxe6 31.Rd1 a3 32.Qf3 Bf5 33.b3 Qxe5 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Grandelius, N (2670) [D85]
chess24.com (14.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Re1 Nc6 12.d5 Ne5 13.c4 f5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Rb3 Rad8 16.Bb2 e6 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.Bxe5 Qxe5 19.Bf3 Qf6 20.g4 b5 21.gxf5 bxc4 22.Rbe3 Qxf5 23.d6 Qf4 24.d7 Rf7 25.Bc6 Qxf2+ 26.Kh1 c3 27.Rxe6 c2 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Qa1+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…fxg3 2.Sf2#; 1…f3, Kh3/xg3 2.Qh2#; 1…Kg5 2.Qf6#./PN
