GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored his third win in as many games to pad his lead at the halfway mark of the Category 19 (average Elo: 2715) Summer of Seattle (SOS) group of the ongoing PNWCC Super Invitational being played at the chess.com server.
Mamedyarov defeated GM Jeffery Xiong in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, thereby sweeping the four-player field at the end of the first half of the Category 19 (average Elo: 2715) group. Meanwhile, GM Vladimir Fedoseev handed GM Le Quang Liem his third straight loss to seize second place a full point behind Mamedyarov. Le, Vietnam’s top player, appears to be off-form in this event.
In the Category 16 (average Elo: 2644) Rising Stars group, GM Awonder Liang grabbed the lead at the halfway mark after beating erstwhile leader GM Andrey Esipenko in 34 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein after Esipenko fell for a thematic Queen sacrifice. The two other players in the group, GMs Parham Maghsoodloo and M. Amin Tabatabaei drew in 35 moves of a Ruy Lopez.
SOS standings after Round 2: 1. Mamedyarov, 3; 2. Fedoseev, 2; 3. Xiong, 1½; 4. Le Quang Liem, 0.
Rising Stars standings after Round 3: 1. Liang, 2-3. Maghsoodloo, Esipenko, 1½; 4. Tabatabaei, 1.
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Tabatabaei, M (2629) [C88]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.c3 Rb8 11.Bc4 d5 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.d4 bxc3 14.Nxc3 Be6 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Bxd5 Bxd5 17.dxe5 Ba8 18.h3 Rb4 19.Rb1 Qc8 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.Qxd5 Rb5 22.Qe4 Bb4 23.Re2 Bxa5 24.e6 Qxe6 25.Qxe6 fxe6 26.Rxe6 Bb6 27.Be3 Bxe3 28.Rxe3 Rfb8 29.Rc1 Rxb2 30.Rxc7 R2b7 31.Rxb7 Rxb7 32.Re8+ Kf7 33.Ra8 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 Ra1 35.h4 ½-½
Liang, A (2592)-Esipenko, A (2682) [E46]
chess.com (3.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Nge2 Re8 6.a3 Bf8 7.d5 a5 8.Ng3 Na6 9.Bd3 Nc5 10.Bc2 exd5 11.cxd5 c6 12.0-0 b5 13.d6 Bb7 14.e4 b4 15.Be3 Ba6 16.Re1 Nb7 17.axb4 Nxd6 18.bxa5 Nc4 19.Bd4 c5 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Nd5 Qd8 22.b3 Ne5 23.f4 Nc6 24.e5 Nd4 25.Ne4 h6 26.Bd3 Bb7 27.Bc4 Re6 28.Qh5 g6 29.Qh3 Rxa5 30.Rad1 Ra3 31.Ndf6+ Kg7 32.Rd3 d5 33.Qxh6+ Kxh6 34.Rh3+ 1-0
Xiong, J (2709)-Mamedyarov, S (2764) [D22]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.e3 b5 5.a4 Bb7 6.b3 Nf6 7.bxc4 b4 8.c5 Nc6 9.Bc4 g5 10.Nxg5 e6 11.0-0 Rg8 12.f4 Na5 13.Be2 h6 14.Nf3 Qd5 15.Qd3 Nb3 16.Nbd2 Nxa1 17.Bb2 0-0-0 18.Rxa1 Bxc5 19.e4 Qh5 20.Rc1 Qh3 21.Bf1 Nh5 22.Rxc5 Nxf4 23.Qc4 Rxg2+ 24.Kh1 Rdg8 25.Rxc7+ Kd8 0-1
Le, Quang Liem (2709)-Fedoseev, V (2678) [E12]
chess.com (3.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 c5 10.0-0 Be7 11.e4 0-0 12.Bf4 Nf6 13.Qe2 Rc8 14.Rfd1 cxd4 15.cxd4 Qe8 16.h3 Rc3 17.Bd2 Rxd3 18.Qxd3 Bxe4 19.Qe2 Bb7 20.Ne5 Nd5 21.Rdc1 Kh8 22.Bb4 a5 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.Qg4 g5 25.Rc2 Nf4 26.Rac1 f6 27.Rc7 Qxa3 28.g3 h5 29.Ng6+ Kg8 30.Ne7+ Kg7 31.Qd1 Bf3 32.Qe1 Ne2+ 33.Kh2 Rf7 34.Nc8 Nxc1 35.Rxc1 Qb2 36.Rc3 Bd5 37.Nd6 Rd7 38.Ne8+ Kf7 39.Nc7 Re7 40.Qe3 Bb7 41.d5 exd5 42.Qf3 Qe2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa1! Black’s futile options are 1…Be6 2.Se8#; 1…Bc6 2.Sc8#; 1…Sc6 2.Sb5#; 1…Se6 2.Sf5#; 1…Sb5/f5/b3/c2/e2 2.Qe5#./PN
