Wesley So barged into the finals of the ongoing 2021 Speed Chess Championship sponsored and hosted by chess.com in their online server after narrowly beating India teen sensation GM Sarin Nihal in the semifinals Wednesday.
As we reported earlier, each match has time controls of 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet. Wesley and Nihal tied in the 5+1 blitz, but the 28-year old Philippine-born ace won the 3+1 blitz segment, 5½-4½. The protagonists once again tied in the 1m+1 second portion, enabling Wesley to win the match, 15-14.
Wesley will now wait for the winner of the other semifinal match between GM Liren Ding and GM Levon Aronian to be played today, with the final match to be played Sunday. The champion will receive
$10,000.
So,Wesley (2814)-Nihal,S (2705)
chess.com (5+1) (1) 2021
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.Nxf7 Kxf7 8.Qf3+ Ke6 9.Qe4+ Kf6 10.Bxd5 e6 11.Bxb7 Bxb7 12.Qxb7 Nd7 13.0-0 Kf7 14.Rd1 Rf8 15.Qc6 Nb6 16.Nc3 Qe7 17.Bf4 Rac8 18.Be5 Kg8 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Qe4 Nc4 21.b3 Nd6 22.Qe5+ Kg8 23.Re1 Rce8 24.Re2 Rf5 25.Qe3 Qf7 26.Ne4 e5 27.Nxd6 cxd6 28.Rae1 Rf8 29.dxe5 Rxe5 30.Qg3 Rd5 31.h4 Qf5 32.c4 Rd4 33.Re8 Rd2 34.Rxf8+ Qxf8 35.a4 Rb2 36.Qe3 a5 37.Re2 Rb1+ 38.Kh2 Qf6 39.g3 Kg7 40.Qa7+ Kh6 41.Qe3+ Kg7 42.Qe7+ Qxe7 43.Rxe7+ Kf6 44.Rxh7 Rxb3 45.Ra7 Rb4 46.Rxa5 Rxc4 47.Ra8 d5 48.a5 Rc7 49.a6 Ke5 50.a7 Kd4 51.Kg2 Rd7 52.Rg8 Rxa7 53.Rxg6 Kd3 54.h5 d4 55.Rd6 Ke4 56.g4 d3 57.h6 Kf4 58.Kh3 Rh7 59.Rd4+ Kf3 60.Rxd3+ Kxf2 61.g5 1-0
Nihal,S (2705)-So,Wesley (2814)
chess.com (5+1) (2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 Nc6 8.Qa4 0-0 9.Rd1 a6 10.Qh4 Qb6 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.Rxd5 Nb4 13.Be3 Qxe3 14.Ng5 h6 15.fxe3 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 hxg5 17.Qxg5 e6 18.Be4 Bxb2 19.Rd1 Bg7 20.h4 1-0
So,Wesley (2814)-Nihal,S (2705)
chess.com (5+1) (3) 2021 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.h4 h6 9.a4 b6 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bd3 Nbc6 12.0-0 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nb4 14.Ba3 Nxd3 15.cxd3 Qd8 16.h5 0-0 17.g4 Re8 18.Kh2 Nc6 19.Qd2 f6 20.Kg3 Kh7 21.Qe3 Rg8 22.Nh4 Rc8 23.f4 Na5 24.Bb4 Rc2 25.Rac1 Rb2 26.Rb1 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Bxa4 28.Bxa5 bxa5 29.exf6 Qxf6 30.Ra1 Bb5 31.Rxa5 a6 32.Ra1 Rc8 33.g5 hxg5 34.fxg5 Qe7 35.Nf3 Rf8 36.Rc1 Rf5 37.g6+ Kg8 38.Rc8+ Be8 39.h6 Rf8 40.h7 Kh8 41.Ne5 Qf6 42.Rxe8 1-0
Nihal,S (2705)-So,Wesley (2814)
chess.com (5+1) (8) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 e6 6.c3 cxd4 7.exd4 Nh5 8.Be3 Bd6 9.Ne5 g6 10.Nd3 0-0 11.g3 b6 12.Be2 Ng7 13.0-0 f6 14.Re1 Nf5 15.Bf3 Nxe3 16.Rxe3 Bd7 17.Qb3 Kg7 18.Rae1 Re8 19.Bg2 Re7 20.Qd1 Qc7 21.Nf1 Rae8 22.R3e2 Na5 23.Ne3 Nc4 24.Bf3 Bc6 25.Bg2 Nxe3 26.Rxe3 e5 27.dxe5 fxe5 28.R3e2 a5 29.Nc1 Bb5 30.Rc2 e4 31.Qxd5 Bc5 32.Nb3 e3 33.f4 Rd8 34.Qf3 Rd2 35.Rcc1 Rf2 36.Qd5 Rd2 37.Qf3 Bc4 38.Nxc5 Qxc5 39.b3 Bd5 0-1
So,Wesley (2814)-Nihal,S (2705)
chess.com (5+1) (9) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.Re1 Ng4 7.Re2 Kh8 8.h3 f5 9.Bg5 Nf6 10.Nc3 d6 11.Nd5 fxe4 12.dxe4 Be6 13.Nxf6 gxf6 14.Bxe6 fxg5 15.Bg4 Qf6 16.c3 Qg6 17.b4 Bb6 18.Bf5 Qg7 19.Qd2 Ne7 20.Bg4 h6 21.g3 Rf6 22.Kg2 Raf8 23.Bh5 g4 24.Bxg4 Qf7 25.Rf1 h5 26.Ng5 Qg6 27.Bd7 h4 28.gxh4 Qh5 29.Bg4 Qxh4 30.f4 Rxf4 31.Rxf4 Rxf4 32.Nf3 Rxg4+ 33.hxg4 Qxg4+ 34.Kh2 Qxf3 35.Qh6+ Kg8 36.Rg2+ Kf7 37.Rg7+ Ke8 38.Qe6 Qf8 39.Rh7 Be3 40.Kg2 Qf2+ 41.Kh3 Qf1+ 42.Kg3 Bf4+ 43.Kh4 Qf2+ 0-1
Nihal,S (2705)-So,Wesley (2814)
chess.com (5+1) (10) 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 Re8 9.Bd3 Bf8 10.0-0 Bb7 11.a3 c5 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.Re1 Nc6 14.Qa4 Ne5 15.Nxe5 Rxe5 16.Ne2 Ne4 17.Ba5 Qh4 18.Ng3 h5 19.Red1 Be7 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Qb5 Bd5 22.Rxd5 Rxd5 23.Qb7 Rad8 24.Bxd8 Rxd8 25.Nf5 Qg4 26.Nxe7+ Kf8 27.Nd5 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Re5/g4 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Nxc5 2.Nf6#; 1…Nd6/f6/c3/g3/d2 2.Q(x)d6#; 1…Nb4/d4/a3/e3/a1/e1 2.N(x)e3#; 1…Re2 2.Qf7#; 1…Rxf4 2.Nxf4#.
