Five straight draws from Rounds 6 to 10 didn’t dislodge Anish Giri from the leadership of the ongoing Skilling Open – Chess Champions Tour at the chess24.com server, even as three of his closest foes are relentlessly in pursuit.
Half-a-point behind Giri are Liren Ding and Wesley So who moved up to share second to fourth places with Magnus Carlsen, who suffered a second loss in the event from the hands of Sergey Karjakin. Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit and Peter Svidler continue to perform below par and are in danger of not making the cut. Only the top 8 players here will qualify to the knockout stage. The Round 10 standings: 1. Giri, 6½; 2-4. Ding, Carlsen, So, 6; 5-7. Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Nepomniachtchi, 5; 8-10. Radjabov, Anton Guijarro, Firouzja, 5; 11-13. Le, Aronian, Karjakin, 4½; 14. Svidler, 4; 15. Vidit, 3½; 16. Duda, 3.
Firouzja, A (2749)-Radjabov, T (2765) [C46]
chess24.com (6.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.h3 Bb4 5.Bd3 d6 6.Ne2 0-0 7.0-0 Re8 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Bc2 e4 11.Ne1 Bd6 12.d4 exd3 13.Nxd3 Bf5 14.Nef4 Qc4 15.Bb3 Qa6 16.Nb4 Nxb4 17.cxb4 Rad8 18.Qf3 Bxb4 19.Bxf7+ Kxf7 20.Qb3+ Be6 21.Nxe6 Rxe6 22.Be3 Be7 0-1
Duda, J-K (2743)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D85]
chess24.com (6.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Nf3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Bg4 10.Rc1 Bxf3 11.gxf3 e6 12.Rb1 a6 13.Rxb7 Nc6 14.f4 0-0 15.Bg2 Rab8 16.Rb3 Rxb3 17.axb3 cxd4 18.cxd4 Qb5 19.e5 Rc8 20.d5 Nb4 21.Qe2 Nc2+ 22.Kf1 Qxb3 23.Kg1 Nxe3 24.Qxe3 Rc3 25.Qe2 Rc1+ 26.Bf1 Qxd5 27.h4 Bh6 28.h5 Bxf4 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.Qxa6 Qf3 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [A29]
chess24.com (6.8) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3 0-0 9.b4 Re8 10.d3 Bf8 11.Re1 a5 12.b5 Nd4 13.Nd2 a4 14.Rb1 Ra7 15.e3 Ne6 16.Nf3 Ng5 17.Nxg5 Qxg5 18.Bb2 Be6 19.Ne4 Qd8 20.f4 f5 21.Ng5 Ba2 22.Ra1 Bb3 23.Qh5 h6 24.Nf3 exf4 25.gxf4 Ra5 26.Nd4 Bf7 27.Qh3 Nd5 28.Qg3 Qf6 29.Rac1 Rxb5 30.Nxb5 Qxb2 31.Bxd5 Bxd5 32.Nxc7 Rxe3 33.Nxd5 Rxg3+ 34.hxg3 Qd4+ 35.Ne3 Bxa3 36.Rc4 Qd7 37.Kf2 b5 38.Rc2 b4 39.Ra1 b3 40.Rxa3 bxc2 41.Nxc2 Qb5 42.Ke2 Qc5 43.Ra2 Qd5 44.Rxa4 Qg2+ 45.Kd1 Qxg3 46.Kd2 h5 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [C50]
chess24.com (9.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bxe6 Rxe6 12.b4 Ba7 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Nf1 d5 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Nxe3 Rd8 17.b5 Ne7 18.c4 d4 19.Nf5 a5 20.c5 Re8 21.Ng3 Ng6 22.Rac1 Nf4 23.Kh2 Nh7 24.Qd2 f6 25.Nf5 Ng6 26.Qxa5 Ng5 27.Nxg5 fxg5 28.c6 bxc6 29.bxc6 Qf7 30.Qb5 Nh4 31.f3 Nxf5 32.exf5 Qxf5 33.Re4 Qf8 34.a5 Ra8 35.a6 Kh7 36.Qb7 Qb8 37.Rb1 Qa7 38.Ra1 Ree8 39.Qb5 Qb6 40.Rxe5 Rxe5 41.Qxe5 Rxa6 42.Qf5+ 1-0
Radjabov, T (2765)-Ding, L (2791) [B97]
chess24.com (9.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 Qd5 15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5 17.Bg3 Qd5 18.c4 Bxd4 19.Rxd4 Qa5+ 20.Rd2 0-0 21.Bd6 f5 22.Bxf8 Nxf8 23.Nd6 Nbd7 24.g4 fxg4 25.Bxg4 Qe5 26.Ke2 b5 27.Bf3 Rb8 28.Qxe5 Nxe5 29.cxb5 axb5 30.Nxc8 Rxc8 31.Rb1 Rc3 32.Bg2 Nfg6 33.Rxb5 Nf4+ 34.Kf1 Ng4 35.Rd8+ Kf7 36.Rb7+ Kg6 37.Be4+ Kh5 38.Rb1 Nxh2+ 39.Kg1 Ng4 40.Rd2 Kh4 41.Rf1 Kg3 42.Kh1 g5 43.Rg1+ Kh4 44.Re1 h5 45.Kg1 Kg3 46.Rc2 Nh3+ 0-1
Karjakin, S (2752)-Carlsen, M (2862) [C41]
chess24.com (10.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.g3 0-0 7.Bg2 Re8 8.0-0 Bf8 9.h3 Nbd7 10.g4 Nc5 11.Re1 c6 12.g5 Nfd7 13.f4 a5 14.Be3 Qc7 15.a4 Na6 16.Qd2 Ndc5 17.Rad1 Bd7 18.Nde2 Rad8 19.Ng3 Qc8 20.Kh2 d5 21.e5 Nb4 22.Qf2 b6 23.Bd4 Bf5 24.Re2 g6 25.Nxf5 Qxf5 26.h4 Ne6 27.Rf1 c5 28.Be3 d4 29.Bh3 dxe3 30.Qg3 Qxc2 31.Rxc2 Nxc2 32.f5 Rd2+ 33.Kh1 gxf5 34.Bxf5 e2 35.Nxe2 Rxe2 36.Bxe6 Rxe6 37.Qf3 Re7 38.Qxe2 Nd4 39.Qc4 Nc6 40.Qb5 Nxe5 41.Qxb6 Nc4 42.Qb8 Re4 43.Rf4 Rxf4 44.Qxf4 Nxb2 45.h5 c4 46.Qd4 Nxa4 47.Qxc4 Nc5 48.g6 hxg6 49.hxg6 Ne6 50.Qd5 a4 51.Qf5 Nd8 52.Qd7 1-0
*******
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
