GMs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Awonder Liang were held by their opponents to draws in Round 4 but hanged on to the lead of their respective groups in the PNWCC Super Invitational on the chess.com server.
Mamedyarov was held by the winless GM Le Quang Liem in 60 moves of a hard-fought Queen’s Gambit Declined in the Summer of Seattle (SOS) group, even as Liang was stalled by second seed GM Parham Maghsoodloo in 72 moves of a tough Classical King’s Indian Defense in the Rising Stars event.
In the other Round 4 matches, GM Jeffery Xiong regained solo second after beating GM Vladimir Fedoseev in 37 moves of a London System in the SOS group while M.Amin Tabatabaei handed erstwhile leader and top seed GM Andrey Esipenko his second straight loss to send him to the bottom of the standings in the Rising Stars group.
SOS standings after Round 4: 1. Mamedyarov, 3; 2. Xiong, 2½; 3. Fedoseev, 2; 4. Le Quang Liem, ½.
Rising Stars standings after Round 4: 1. Liang, 2½; 2-3. Maghsoodloo, Tabatabaei, 2; 4. Esipenko, 1½,
Tabatabaei, M (2629)-Esipenko, A (2682) [D37]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Rd1 Re8 11.Nd2 e5 12.Bg5 Nd4 13.Qb1 Bf5 14.Bd3 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 Ne4 16.Nxd5 Nxg5 17.b4 Qd8 18.bxc5 Nde6 19.0-0 Nxc5 20.Qb1 Qc8 21.f4 exf4 22.Rxf4 f6 23.h4 Nf7 24.Rxf6 gxf6 25.Nxf6+ Kf8 26.Qxh7 Qe6 27.Rf1 Rad8 28.Kh1 Ke7 29.Nd5+ Rxd5 30.cxd5 Qxd5 31.Rf5 Qe6 32.Rxc5 Rh8 33.Qd3 Rxh4+ 34.Kg1 Qd6 35.Qf5 Rh6 36.Ne4 Qh2+ 37.Kf2 Rb6 38.Ng3 Rb2+ 39.Rc2 Qh8 40.Qc5+ Ke8 41.Qc8+ Nd8 42.Nf5 Qe5 43.Kf3 Qd5+ 44.Kg3 Qe5+ 45.Kh3 Rxc2 46.Qxc2 Ne6 47.Qc8+ Kf7 48.Qxb7+ Kf6 49.g4 Qa1 50.Qe7+ Ke5 51.Qd6+ Kf6 52.Qe7+ Ke5 53.Qd6+ Kf6 54.Ng3 Kf7 55.Qd7+ Kf6 56.Nh5+ Ke5 57.Qb5+ Kd6 58.Qa6+ Ke5 59.Qa5+ Kd6 60.Qb4+ Ke5 61.Qb8+ Ke4 62.Ng3+ Kd5 63.Qb5+ Nc5 64.e4+ 1-0
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Liang, A (2592) [E73]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be2 d6 6.Bg5 Na6 7.Nf3 h6 8.Bh4 e5 9.d5 Qe8 10.Nd2 Nh7 11.g4 c6 12.Nf1 cxd5 13.cxd5 Bd7 14.Ne3 b5 15.a4 Nc7 16.axb5 Nxb5 17.Bxb5 Bxb5 18.Qb3 a6 19.Ra5 Bf6 20.Bxf6 Nxf6 21.Qa3 Qd8 22.f3 Rc8 23.Kd2 Nd7 24.Nxb5 axb5 25.Rxb5 Qf6 26.Ke2 Rc7 27.Ra5 Rb8 28.Ra8 Qd8 29.Ra1 Rcb7 30.Rxb8 Qxb8 31.Nc4 Kg7 32.Qxd6 Rxb2+ 33.Ke1 Rb1+ 34.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 35.Kd2 Qb3 36.Ne3 Qb5 37.h4 Qa5+ 38.Ke2 Qb5+ 39.Kf2 Qb2+ 40.Kg3 Qd4 41.Qa3 Nc5 42.Qc1 Nb3 43.Qe1 Qd3 44.h5 Nd4 45.hxg6 fxg6 46.Kf2 Qa3 47.Qd2 Qf8 48.Qd1 Qa3 49.Nf1 Qb2+ 50.Qd2 Qa3 51.Nh2 Qc5 52.Kg2 Qc4 53.Qb2 Qd3 54.Kf2 g5 55.Qa2 Qd1 56.d6 Kf6 57.d7 Ke7 58.Qd5 Kd8 59.Qxe5 Qe2+ 60.Kg1 Qxh2+ 61.Qxh2 Nxf3+ 62.Kg2 Nxh2 63.Kxh2 Kxd7 64.Kg3 Ke6 65.Kf3 Kf6 66.Ke2 Kg6 67.e5 h5 68.gxh5+ Kxh5 69.Kf3 Kg6 70.Kg4 Kf7 71.e6+ Kxe6 72.Kxg5 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2764)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [D37]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 b6 6.cxb6 cxb6 7.Bf4 Bd6 8.e3 0-0 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Qf3 b5 13.a3 Bxf4 14.Qxf4 Qb8 15.Ne2 Rc8 16.f3 Qxf4 17.Nxf4 b4 18.Kd2 bxa3 19.Rxa3 Rcb8 20.b3 g5 21.Ne2 Bb5 22.Bxb5 Rxb5 23.Rha1 Rb6 24.Nc1 Nd7 25.Nd3 Rc8 26.b4 Nb8 27.Rc3 Rxc3 28.Kxc3 Nc6 29.Ra4 Na7 30.Kb3 Nc6 31.Kc3 Na7 32.Nc5 Nb5+ 33.Kb3 Nc7 34.Ra1 Kg7 35.Ka4 Ne8 36.Kb3 Nc7 37.g4 h6 38.Ra2 Kh7 39.Na4 Rb8 40.Nc5 Rb6 41.h3 Kg7 42.Ra1 Kh7 43.Na4 Rb8 44.Nc3 Rb6 45.Ka4 Kg7 46.Ka5 Rb8 47.e4 Nb5 48.Nxb5 Rxb5+ 49.Ka4 e5 50.Kb3 exd4 51.Rxa6 dxe4 52.fxe4 Re5 53.Kc4 Rxe4 54.b5 d3+ 55.Kxd3 Rb4 56.Ra5 h5 57.Kc3 Rb1 58.Kc4 hxg4 59.hxg4 f5 60.gxf5 Kf6 ½-½
Xiong, J (2709)-Fedoseev, V (2678) [A46]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 d5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Nh5 7.Be5 f6 8.Bg3 g6 9.Bd3 Bd7 10.Bh4 c4 11.Bc2 Be7 12.e4 b5 13.0-0 Ng7 14.Re1 g5 15.Bg3 g4 16.Nh4 0-0 17.Qxg4 dxe4 18.Nxe4 f5 19.Qf4 fxe4 20.Qxe4 Nf5 21.Nf3 Rf7 22.Rad1 Nxg3 23.hxg3 Bf6 24.d5 exd5 25.Rxd5 Re7 26.Qf4 Bg7 27.Qd2 Nb8 28.Bf5 Rxe1+ 29.Nxe1 Qe8 30.Bxd7 Nxd7 31.Rxd7 Kh8 32.Nf3 h6 33.Nh4 Qe4 34.Re7 Qb1+ 35.Kh2 Rf8 36.Rxa7 Rg8 37.Qd5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe2! Black’s futile options are 1..’Sc7/g7/d6 2.S(x)d6#; 1…Sg8/d7/h7/h5 2.f6#; 1…Bd3/xe2/b5/a6 2.Sxc5#; 1…Bxe3+ 2.Qxe3#; 1…Bc3/xb2/e5 2.Sc2#’/PN
