THE 9th Norway Chess tournament unfolded on Sept. 7 in Stavanger, Norway, with six of the world’s top players in a double round-robin competition. The players are Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport, Sergey Karjakin, Alireza Firouzja, and Aryan Tari.
The Category 21 (average Elo: 2760) classical chess event has a unique scoring format. A win is given three points, while a draw will usher an Armageddon tiebreaker game with the winner getting 1½ points to the loser’s one point. The classical time control is 120 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move beginning on Move 40, while the Armageddon time control is 10 minutes for white and seven minutes for black plus a one-second increment per move, beginning on Move 41.
After five rounds of play, the Hungarian GM Rapport is leading the pack with Nepomniachtchi in second. Karjakin is in 3rd place after beating Carlsen in Round 5 after 54 moves of a Sicilian Sveshnikov.
Standings after Round 5: 1. Rapport, 9½; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 8½; 3. Karjakin, 7; 4-5. Carlsen, Firouzja, 6; 6. Tari, 3.
Karjakin, S (2758)-
Carlsen, M (2855) [B33]
Stavanger (5.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 Qb8 12.h4 h5 13.Be3 a6 14.Nc3 Be7 15.g3 0-0 16.Be2 b5 17.cxb5 axb5 18.Bxh5 Bd8 19.0-0 Ne7 20.Bg5 Ba5 21.Qb3 Nf5 22.Ne2 Bb6 23.Rac1 Ra4 24.Rc6 Bxc6 25.dxc6 Rc4 26.a4 Nd4 27.Nxd4 Bxd4 28.axb5 d5 29.Rc1 Rxc1+ 30.Bxc1 Qb6 31.Be3 Bxe3 32.fxe3 Rd8 33.Kg2 g6 34.Be2 Kg7 35.Qc3 d4 36.exd4 exd4 37.Qd3 Qa5 38.Qc2 Qb4 39.b3 Re8 40.Bc4 Re7 41.Qf2 Qc3 42.Qf3 Qb4 43.Kh3 Qd6 44.Qf4 Qxf4 45.gxf4 d3 46.Bxd3 Re3+ 47.Kg2 Rxd3 48.b6 Rxb3 49.b7 Rb6 50.h5 gxh5 51.Kh3 Rxc6 52.b8Q Rc5 53.Qb2+ f6 54.Kh4 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2792)-
Rapport, R (2760) [D02]
Stavanger (5.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.e3 Bb4 7.Rc1 0-0 8.Be2 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bg6 11.Bg3 Bxc3 12.bxc3 dxc4 13.Bd6 Re8 14.Nb5 Nd5 15.Bxc4 N7b6 16.Bxd5 Nxd5 17.Bg3 Re7 18.c4 Nf6 19.Qxd8+ Rxd8 20.Nxa7 Ra8 21.Nb5 Rxa2 22.Ra1 Rxa1 23.Rxa1 h6 24.f3 Bd3 25.Nd6 Rc7 26.e4 Nh5 27.Be1 f6 28.Ra4 Nf4 29.Bd2 e5 30.Rb4 Ne6 31.Be3 h5 32.Rb6 Rc6 33.c5 Ba6 34.g3 Rxb6 35.cxb6 Kf8 36.f4 ½-½
Firouzja, A (2754)-
Tari, A (2642) [C50]
Stavanger (5.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 a5 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 h6 9.Bb5 Ba7 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.d4 Ng6 12.a4 c6 13.Bd3 Re8 14.Bc2 Be6 15.Nf1 Qc7 16.Ng3 Rad8 17.Be3 d5 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Bf4 Nfd7 20.exd5 Bxd5 21.dxe5 Nxe5 22.Qe2 Qb6 23.Be3 Qc7 24.Bf4 Qb6 25.Kh1 Ng6 26.Qxe8+ Rxe8 27.Rxe8+ Kh7 28.Re2 Kg8 29.Be3 c5 30.Rd1 Qc6 31.Red2 Bxg2+ 32.Kh2 Bf3 33.Rd8+ Kh7 34.R1d6 Qc7 35.R6d7 Qc6 36.Rxf7 1-0
And here’s the Armageddon game between Nepomniachtchi and Rapport:
Nepomniachtchi, I (2792)-
Rapport, R (2760) [B01]
Stavanger (5.2) 2021
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 c6 7.Bf4 e6 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Bb4 10.Bd2 Nbd7 11.Nxd7 Kxd7 12.h5 Be4 13.Rh3 h6 14.a3 Bxc3 15.Rxc3 Qc7 16.Qe2 Bd5 17.Re3 b5 18.b3 Qh2 19.Rg3 Ne4 20.Rh3 Nxd2 21.Rxh2 Nf3+ 22.Kd1 Nxh2 23.Kc1 Nxf1 24.Qxf1 a5 25.Qe2 b4 26.axb4 axb4 27.Rxa8 Rxa8 28.Kb2 f6 29.f4 Ra5 30.Qd3 Ke7 31.Qh7 Kf8 32.Qh8+ Kf7 33.Qd8 Rb5 34.g5 fxg5 35.fxg5 hxg5 36.Qxg5 Rb7 37.Qd8 Rb5 38.Qd7+ Kf8 39.Kc1 Kg8 40.Kd2 Kh7 41.Qf7 Kh8 42.Ke3 Rb8 43.Qe7 Kg8 44.Qd6 Rb7 45.Qd8+ Kh7 46.Qe8 Ra7 47.Qg6+ Kh8 48.Qe8+ Kh7 49.Qb8 Ra2 50.Kd3 Bf3 51.Qxb4 Bxh5 52.c4 Bg6+ 53.Ke3 Rb2 54.Qa3 Rb1 55.Qa4 Bf5 56.Kf4 Kh6 57.Qxc6 g5+ 58.Ke5 Kh5 59.d5 Re1+ 60.Kf6 Rf1 61.Kg7 exd5 62.cxd5 Rd1 63.b4 Kg4 64.b5 Be4 65.Qe6+ Kf4 66.d6 Bf5 67.Qe2 Rd5 68.b6 g4 69.b7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ne6+ 2.Rxe6#; 1…Nf5+ 2.exf5#; 1…Nxe4/xe2 2.Qg5#; 1…Rxc1 2.f4#; 1…Rxf2 2.Qa1#./PN
