By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Russian GM Peter Svidler emerged as the winner of the Pepe Cuenca and Divis Invitational online blitz knockout tournament which ended April 16 on the chess24.com server.
Svidler defeated GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 6½-4½, in the slam-bang final contest that saw seven straight decisive games beginning the fifth game up to the conclusion of the match. Duda, who was behind 2½-1½ after the first four games, went all out to level the score. Svidler, however, was up to the challenge and won four of the final seven games.
Svidler and Duda arranged the finals showdown after eliminating GMs David Anton Guijarro and Vladislav Artemiev, respectively, in the semifinals. Here are the last four games of the Svidler-Duda championship match:
Duda, J-K (2753)-Svidler, P (2723) [D02]
chess24.com (3.7) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nh4 Bb4 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.e3 c5 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nc6 10.Qb3 0-0 11.Qxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxf5 exf5 13.c4 Ndb4 14.Kd1 cxd4 15.exd4 Na6 16.d5 Ne5 17.Bc3 Rfe8 18.Rc1 Nc5 19.Bd4 Rac8 20.Rc3 Ne4 21.Rc2 b6 22.f3 Nd6 23.Bxe5 Rxe5 24.Bd3 Rc5 25.Kd2 Kf8 26.Rb1 g6 27.Rb3 Ra5 28.a3 Nb7 29.Rcc3 Nc5 30.Rb1 f4 31.Bc2 Ke7 32.Re1 Rxe1 33.Kxe1 Kd6 34.Kd2 Ke5 35.Kc1 Nb7 36.Kb2 Nd6 37.Bb3 Rc5 38.Rc1 Kf6 39.Kc3 h5 40.a4 g5 41.Re1 Rc7 42.Kb4 a5+ 43.Kc3 Nf5 44.Re2 Re7 45.Rd2 Re3+ 46.Kb2 Ke5 47.Bc2 Nd6 48.Bd3 g4 49.fxg4 hxg4 50.Kc2 f5 51.Rf2 g3 52.hxg3 fxg3 53.Rd2 f4 54.Rd1 f3 55.gxf3 Rxf3 56.Re1+ Kd4 57.Be2 Rf2 58.Kd1 g2 59.Rg1 Ke3 60.Bh5 Rf1+ 0-1
Svidler, P (2723)-Duda, J-K (2753) [A20]
chess24.com (3.8) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Ne7 5.d3 0-0 6.e4 Nbc6 7.Nge2 d6 8.h3 f5 9.Be3 Be6 10.Nd5 Qd7 11.Qd2 a6 12.Rc1 Rf7 13.Bh6 fxe4 14.dxe4 Raf8 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.f4 Kg8 17.b3 b5 18.c5 exf4 19.Nexf4 Ne5 20.cxd6 Qxd6 21.Nxc7 Qxd2+ 22.Kxd2 Bd7 23.Rhf1 g5 24.Nd3 Nxd3 25.Kxd3 Nc6 26.Rxf7 Rxf7 27.Ke3 Kg7 28.Nxa6 h5 29.Nc5 Ne5 30.Kd4 Nc6+ 31.Kd5 Nb4+ 32.Kd6 Bc8 33.a3 Rf6+ 34.Kc7 Rc6+ 35.Kd8 Na2 36.Rc2 Kf8 37.e5 1-0
Duda, J-K (2753)-Svidler, P (2723) [A01]
chess24.com (3.9) 2020
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.c4 g6 5.Nf3 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bg7 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Be2 0-0 10.Bf3 d5 11.0-0 Rb8 12.Nd2 a5 13.Rc1 Bf5 14.Bc3 a4 15.bxa4 Qd6 16.Bd4 Rfd8 17.Nb3 Qa3 18.cxd5 Nxd5 19.Bxg7 Nxe3 20.Qe1 Nxf1 21.Ba1 Nd2 22.Nxd2 Re8 23.Qf1 Qxa2 24.Nc4 Rbd8 25.Ne5 Rd2 26.Bxc6 Red8 27.Bb5 Bc2 28.Bc4 Qa3 29.Nxf7 1-0
Svidler, P (2723)-Duda, J-K (2753) [B51]
chess24.com (3.10) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bxd7+ Bxd7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 e5 8.Qd3 h6 9.c4 b5 10.Nc3 bxc4 11.Qxc4 Nf6 12.Be3 Be7 13.h3 0-0 14.Rfd1 Qb8 15.Qe2 Rc8 16.Rac1 Qb7 17.Qc2 Bc6 18.Nd2 d5 19.exd5 Nxd5 20.Qb3 Nxc3 21.Qxb7 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Bxb7 23.Kxe2 Bxg2 24.Nc4 e4 25.Nb6 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Rd8 27.Rc8 Bxh3 28.Rxd8+ Bxd8 29.Nd5 Be6 30.Nc3 f5 0-1
Duda, J-K (2753)-Svidler, P (2723) [A01]
chess24.com (3.11) 2020
1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 f5 6.Rc1 d6 7.g3 0-0 8.Bg2 Nc6 9.e3 Nb4 10.d4 a5 11.Nge2 c6 12.h4 Qe7 13.a3 Na6 14.Nf4 Nc7 15.Kf1 Ne6 16.Nd3 Bd7 17.Bf3 Rab8 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 Nc7 20.Kg2 Be6 21.c5 Bc4 22.Nb2 Ba6 23.cxd6 Qxd6 24.Qb3 Rfe8 25.Nba4 Ne6 26.Nc5 Nxc5 27.bxc5 Qd8 28.Rhd1 h5 29.Ra1 Qc7 30.Ra4 Rbd8 31.Rb4 Re7 32.d5 Qe5 33.d6 Red7 34.Na4 Bb5 35.Rxb5 cxb5 36.Qxb5 Rxd6 37.Rxd6 Rxd6 38.Qxb7 Rd2 39.Qb3 Bh6 40.Kg1 Qa1+ 41.Kh2 Qe1 42.Bg2 Qxf2 43.Qb8+ Kg7 44.Qb7 Bxe3 45.Nb6 f4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sf6 2.Sxf6#; 1…c5 2.Qd5#; 1…Sd8/c7 2.Bxe3, Sc5#; 1…Sc5+ 2.Sxc5#; 1…Sxd4 2.Re8#; 1…Qd2 2.f3#; 1…Qxd4 2.Re1#./PN
