The first of the best-of-two matches in the quarterfinal round of the ongoing Skilling Open–Chess Champions Tour at the chess24.com server ended decisively on Nov. 25 with Magnus Carlsen leading the winners.
Carlsen defeated Anish Giri rather luckily, 2½-1½, after being worst for most of their match. Teimour Radjabov crushed Wesley So, 2½-½, taking advantage of the latter’s rather misplaced, if strange and unsound, aggression. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also got the breaks in beating Hikaru Nakamura, 2½-1½ – escaping with a draw in their second game which Nakamura should have won. Levon Aronian, on the other hand, came back from a Game 1 defeat to win over Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2½-1½.
The losers will have a chance to bounce back from their losses during the second of the best-of-two quarterfinals which starts as we write this. Tied matches in the quarterfinals will be decided by tie-break mini-matches.
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784)-Nakamura, H (2736) [C67]
chess24.com (1.11) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h5 11.Bf4 Be7 12.Rad1 Be6 13.Ng5 Rh6 14.Rfe1 Bb4 15.a3 Bxc3 16.bxc3 h4 17.g4 hxg3 18.fxg3 Ne7 19.h4 Nd5 20.Bc1 Nxc3 21.Rd3 Na4 22.Rf3 Bd5 23.Rf4 Nb6 24.Ref1 Rg6 25.Rf5 Bc4 26.Re1 Be6 27.Rf2 Rd8 28.h5 Rh6 29.Nxf7 Bxf7 30.Bxh6 gxh6 31.e6 Bxh5 32.g4 Bxg4 33.e7 Nd7 34.exd8Q+ Kxd8 35.Rf7 h5 36.Rg7 Nc5 37.Re5 b6 38.Kf2 a5 39.Rxc5 bxc5 40.Rg5 Kc8 41.Rxc5 Kb7 42.Rxa5 Kb6 43.Rg5 Bd1 44.c3 c5 45.Ke1 Bf3 46.Kd2 Kb5 47.Rg7 c6 48.Kc1 c4 49.Rg5+ c5 50.Kd2 h4 51.Ke3 Bd1 52.Rg1 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Radjabov, T (2765) [A28]
chess24.com (1.13) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 0-0 6.Nd5 Re8 7.Qf5 d6 8.Nxf6+ Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.a3 Bc5 11.b4 Bb6 12.Bb2 a6 13.0-0-0 Bf5 14.Rg1 Ne7 15.d4 Be4 16.Nd2 Bg6 17.Nf3 a5 18.b5 c6 19.a4 cxb5 20.axb5 a4 21.Ba3 exd4 22.exd4 Nd5 23.Kb2 Ba5 24.Bxd6 Nc3 25.Rc1 Ne4 26.Bg3 a3+ 27.Ka2 Nc3+ 28.Kxa3 Bb4+ 29.Kxb4 Na2+ 30.Kc5 Re6 31.b6 Ra5# 0-1
Giri, A (2764)-Carlsen, M (2862) [C50]
chess24.com (1.14) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 h6 7.Nbd2 0-0 8.Re1 a5 9.Nf1 Be6 10.Bb5 Ne7 11.d4 Ba7 12.dxe5 Ng4 13.Be3 Nxe3 14.Nxe3 dxe5 15.Nxe5 Ng6 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Qxd8 Raxd8 18.Re2 Bxe3 19.fxe3 Kf7 20.Ba4 Ke7 21.h3 Bc4 22.Rc2 Rd3 23.Re1 Kd6 24.Bb3 Ba6 25.Rcc1 Ke5 26.Rcd1 Rfd8 27.Rxd3 Bxd3 28.Kf2 Rd6 29.Bd1 Bc4 30.b3 Rd2+ 31.Kg3 Be6 32.Rf1 Rxa2 33.Bg4 Bxb3 34.Rf8 Kxe4 35.Rc8 Kxe3 36.Rxc7 Bd5 37.Bf3 Bxf3 38.gxf3 Rb2 39.Rxg7 Rb6 40.c4 Kd4 41.Rc7 a4 42.c5 Ra6 43.Rxb7 Kxc5 44.Rc7+ Kb6 45.Rc1 a3 46.h4 a2 47.Ra1 Ra4 48.f4 h5 49.Kf3 Kc5 50.Ke3 Kd5 51.Kf3 Ke6 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Aronian, L (2781) [C53]
chess24.com (1.14) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 Re8 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.b4 Bb6 10.a4 a6 11.Bxe6 Rxe6 12.Qc2 d5 13.Bb2 Nh5 14.b5 Ne7 15.c4 dxe4 16.Nxe4 c6 17.Nxe5 Ng6 18.d4 Nhf4 19.Nf3 Nh4 20.Nxh4 Qxh4 21.Ng3 Rae8 22.bxc6 bxc6 23.Bc3 h5 24.Rab1 Bc7 25.Rb7 Nxh3+ 26.gxh3 Bxg3 27.d5 Qxh3 28.fxg3 Re2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bf5/d5/xc4 2.Sa6#; 1…Kd6 2.Se4#; 1…Sxc4 2.Ba3#./PN
