The 2021 World Blitz Championship ended before the New Year in Warsaw, Poland, with a narrow victory for GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The 31-year old top French player took the crown via a 2-1 tiebreak win over GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland. The two, along with teen sensation GM Aliresa Firouzja tied for first with 15 points apiece in the 21-round Swiss competition which has a 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move format. Aliresa has the lower tiebreak quotient and settled for 3rd place.
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen was erratic in the event, losing six games – the most the champ has lost in an event such as this. He finished with 13½ points and wound up in 12th place. Russian GM Daniil Dubov scored 14½ and finished in solo 4th place. Levon Aronian, Shakhriyat Mamedyarov and Vladislav Artemiev tallied 14 points each to wind up sharing 5th to 7th place.
Vachier-Lagrave,M (2761)-Duda,J-K (2760) [C84]
Warsaw (tb/3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Nb8 10.Bd2 Nbd7 11.a4 b4 12.Nd5 a5 13.c3 bxc3 14.Bxc3 Nc5 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bd5 Ra7 17.Qc2 Bg4 18.d4 exd4 19.Nxd4 Bd7 20.Nb5 Bxb5 21.axb5 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 a4 23.Qe3 Qb8 24.Bc6 Qb6 25.Rad1 Rb8 26.e5 Ne6 27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.exd6 cxd6 29.Rxd6 a3 30.bxa3 Rxa3 31.g3 g6 32.Rd7 Rb8 33.Rb1 Rc3 34.Ra1 Nd8 35.Bd5 Kf8 36.Raa7 Rd3 37.Kg2 Kg7 38.Bc4 Rxd7 39.Rxd7 Kf6 40.b6 Ne6 41.b7 g5 42.Bxe6 Kxe6 43.Rc7 h5 44.Kf3 f5 45.h4 Kd6 46.Rh7 gh4 47.gh4 Ke5 48.Ke3 Rd8 49.Rh5 Kd5 1-0
Carlsen,M (2856)-Giri,A (2772) [C65]
Warsaw (15.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Bg4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Qe7 9.Nbd2 0-0-0 10.Bg3 Nd7 11.c3 Kb8 12.b4 Bd6 13.a4 g5 14.b5 c5 15.a5 h5 16.h4 gxh4 17.Bxh4 f6 18.Qb3 Rhg8 19.Bg3 Be6 20.Qa4 Rg4 21.Nh2 Rg7 22.Ndf3 Rdg8 23.Nh4 c4 24.dxc4 Nc5 25.Qc2 Qf7 26.b6 cxb6 27.axb6 a6 28.Rfd1 Be7 29.Rd5 Bxd5 30.cxd5 Bd8 31.Nf5 Rg6 32.Nf3 Qd7 33.N3h4 Rg4 34.Nh6 Nxe4 35.Nxg8 Nxg3 36.fxg3 Bxb6+ 37.Kh2 Rxg8 38.Rb1 Bc5 39.c4 Qg4 40.Rb3 e4 41.Qb2 Bd6 42.Rxb7+ Ka8 43.Rb3 Bxg3+ 0-1
Maghsoodloo,P (2701)-Firouzja,A (2804) [E46]
Warsaw (16.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 d5 6.Nf3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Rc1 Bb7 9.Bd3 Re8 10.0-0 Bf8 11.Ne5 c5 12.f4 Nc6 13.Ne2 Rc8 14.Be1 Ne4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Nxf7 Qd5 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Qxa2 19.Bc3 Qd5 20.Qe1 b5 21.Rd1 Qc4 22.b4 cxb4 23.Bd4 Rc7 24.f5 Bc8 25.e6 Qa2 26.Qg3 Rb7 27.Nf4 Bd6 28.Qg4 Bxf4 29.Qxf4 Rf8 30.Qe5 Re8 31.Rc1 Qe2 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.f6 Qg4 34.f7+ Kf8 35.Bc5+ Re7 36.Bxe7+ Kxe7 37.f8R Rxf8 38.Qc5+ Kxe6 39.Qxf8 Kd5 40.Qxb4 a6 41.Qd4+ Ke6 42.Qb6+ Kd5 43.Qxa6 Qe2 44.Qb6 Kc4 45.Qd4+ 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave,M (2761)-Aronian,L (2772) [C78]
Warsaw (17.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.Be3 0-0 12.h3 Re8 13.dxe5 Bxe3 14.exf6 Bf4 15.Qd5 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Be6 17.Nxf7 Qxf6 18.Qd1 Qxf7 19.Bxe6 Rxe6 20.Nd2 Rbe8 21.Re1 h6 22.Nf3 Rxe4 23.Rxe4 Rxe4 24.g3 Bg5 25.Qd3 Qc4 26.Qxc4+ bxc4 27.h4 Bf6 28.Nd2 Rg4 29.Kg2 d5 30.Re1 Kf7 31.f3 Rg6 32.h5 Rg5 33.f4 Rxh5 34.g4 Rh4 35.Kg3 h5 36.g5 Rg4+ 37.Kf3 Be7 38.Rh1 Bd6 39.Rxh5 Rxf4+ 40.Ke3 Rf5 41.Nf3 Bc5+ 42.Ke2 Kg8 43.Rh1 Rf7 44.g6 Re7+ 45.Kd2 Re6 46.Rh5 c6 47.Ne5 Be7 48.Rf5 Bd8 49.Nd7 Be7 50.Nb8 Rxg6 51.Nxa6 Bd6 52.Nb4 Bxb4 53.cxb4 Rg1 54.Rf3 Ra1 55.Ra3 Rf1 56.a6 Rf8 57.a7 Ra8 58.Kc3 Kf7 59.Kd4 g5 60.Kc5 g4 61.Kxc6 g3 62.Rxg3 Rxa7 63.Kxd5 Ra2 64.Kxc4 Rxb2 65.Re3 Rc2+ 66.Kb5 Rc8 67.Ka6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave,M (2761)-Carlsen,M (2856) [C88]
Warsaw (21.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nf1 h6 12.c3 Bf8 13.Ne3 Ne7 14.h3 Ng6 15.Nh2 d5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Qf3 Nh4 18.Qe4 Nxe3 19.Qxb7 Nexg2 20.Re4 Qxd3 21.Rg4 Qxh3 22.Rg3 Qf5 23.Rxg2 Nxg2 24.Qxg2 Rad8 25.Ng4 Kh8 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ne3 Qh5 28.Nf1 e4 29.Ng3 Qg6 30.Be3 Bd6 31.Ne2 Qh5 32.Ng3 Bxg3 33.fxg3 Rd3 34.Qf2 f5 35.Bc2 Rd6 36.Kg2 Red8 37.Rh1 Qg6 38.Bf4 Rd5 39.Qe2 c5 40.b3 c4 41.bxc4 bxc4 42.Rf1 Qf6 43.Qxc4 Qb6 44.Bb3 Rc5 45.Qf7 Rxc3 46.Be5 Rd2+ 47.Kh1 1-0
Duda,J-K (2760)-Artemiev,V (2700) [D37]
Warsaw (21.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Qc2 Be7 6.Bf4 c6 7.e3 0-0 8.h3 b6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 Rc8 12.Rfc1 Ne4 13.Bxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 Nf6 15.Be5 Nd7 16.Bg3 Nf6 17.Qb3 Qd7 18.Be5 Nd5 19.Ncxe4 Nb4 20.Rc3 Bd5 21.Qd1 Nxa2 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.Qg4 g6 24.Nf6+ Bxf6 25.Bxf6 Nb4 26.e4 Bc6 27.Qf4 Qe8 28.Rxa7 Qf8 29.Be7 Nd3 30.Qe3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nxd3 2.Rbd5#; 1…Nxg2 2.Rgd5#; 1…Bxc1 2.Rb4#.
