GRANDMASTER Wesley So roundly defeated Vietnam’s top player Liem Quang Le to win the Chessable Masters – the eighth leg of the rich Meltwater Champions Chess Tout – which concluded on Sunday, on the chess24.com server.
Wesley’s win sealed an unprecedented hat-trick of three Meltwater Champions Chess Tour titles. Also, the Cavite-born So has reached four finals in total and is the only player on the Champions Tour to have reached the knockout stage in every event.
The eighth leg started with a strong qualification tournament of 16 players featuring Wesley, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, Pentala Harikrishna, Quang Liem Le, Vladislav Artemiev, Jorden Van Foreest, David Anton Guijarro, Baskaran Adhiban, Aryan Tari, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Humpy Koneru, Wenjun Ju, and Abhimanyu Mishra. The 27-year-old Wesley topped this event to advance to the knockout stage, along with Aronian, Firouzja, Nakamura, Artemiev, Le, Mamedyarov, and Van Foreest. Wesley then knocked out Van Foreest in the quarterfinals and Artemiev in the semifinals to arrange the titular showdown, with Le, who defeated Firouzja and Aronian in the quarters and semis, respectively. In the battle for third place, Artemiev beat Aronian.
So, Wesley (2772)-
Le, Quang Liem (2709) [C90]
chess24.com (3.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.c3 0-0 10.Bc2 Re8 11.Re1 h6 12.Nbd2 Bf8 13.Nf1 b4 14.Ng3 bxc3 15.bxc3 d5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Bd2 Rb8 18.a5 Nf6 19.Ba4 Bd6 20.h3 Na7 21.Bc2 Nb5 22.Qc1 Bc6 23.Nh4 Bf8 24.Nhf5 Qd5 25.Ne3 Qc5 26.Ra4 Nd6 27.d4 Qa7 28.Ra1 Qa8 29.f3 exd4 30.cxd4 Nb5 31.Nef5 Bd7 32.Re5 Qa7 33.Be3 c5 34.Nxh6+ gxh6 35.Bxh6 Rxe5 36.dxe5 c4+ 37.Kh2 Nh7 38.Bxf8 Nxf8 39.Qg5+ Ng6 40.Nh5 Qd4 41.Bxg6 Qxa1 42.Bxf7+ Kxf7 43.Qf6+ 1-0
So, Wesley (2772)-
Le, Quang Liem (2709) [C92]
chess24.com (3.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Nbd2 Bf8 14.a4 exd4 15.cxd4 h6 16.Bc2 Nb4 17.Bb1 c5 18.d5 Nd7 19.Ra3 c4 20.Nd4 Qf6 21.N2f3 Nc5 22.b3 Nbd3 23.Bxd3 Nxd3 24.Re3 b4 25.Ra1 Ne5 26.Nxe5 dxe5 27.Nf5 c3 28.Rf3 Qd8 29.Nxh6+ gxh6 30.Rg3+ Kh7 31.Qg4 1-0
Le, Quang Liem (2709)-
So, Wesley (2772) [D02]
chess24.com (3.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Qb6 6.dxc5 Qxb2 7.Rb1 Qc3 8.Bb5 g6 9.e4 dxe4 10.Be5 Qa5 11.0-0 exf3 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Qxf3 Nd5 14.Bxh8 Qxd2 15.c4 f6 16.Rfe1 Kf7 17.cxd5 Qxd5 18.Qc3 Be6 19.Qe3 Bf5 20.Rbd1 Qxa2 21.h3 h5 22.Qf3 Kg8 23.g4 hxg4 24.hxg4 Bc2 25.Rd7 Kxh8 26.Rexe7 Qa1+ 27.Kh2 g5 28.Qxc6 Rb8 29.Qc7 Qb1 30.Rd8 Rxd8 31.Qxd8 Kg8 32.Re8 1-0
Le, Quang Liem (2709)-
So, Wesley (2772) [D04]
chess24.com (3.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.b4 a5 6.c3 axb4 7.cxb4 b6 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 10.a4 bxc5 11.b5 g5 12.Bb2 Bd6 13.Qe2 g4 14.Nfd2 Qc7 15.f4 gxf3 16.Nxf3 Rg8 17.0-0 Ke7 18.Nbd2 Rg4 19.Qd1 Rag8 20.Rf2 Rb4 21.Nf1 Ne4 22.Rc2 Qa7 23.Qe1 Nef6 24.Bxf6+ Nxf6 25.Rca2 Rgg4 26.Qd1 Rgc4 27.N3d2 Rc3 28.Rb1 c4 29.a5 Rxb1 30.Qxb1 Bc5 31.b6 Qb8 32.b7 Ng4 33.g3 Nxe3 34.a6 Ba7 35.Kh1 Rd3 36.Nxe3 Rxe3 37.Nf1 Rb3 38.Rb2 Qe5 39.Rxb3 cxb3 40.Nd2 Qe3 41.Qc1 b2 42.Qc7+ Kf6 43.Qf4+ Qxf4 44.gxf4 Kf5 45.Kg2 Kxf4 46.Kf1 Ke3 47.Ke1 Kd3 48.Kd1 f5 0-1
Artemiev, V (2704)-
Aronian, L (2782) [A13]
chess24.com (3.1) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Ne5 Qc8 8.d3 Nc6 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Nd2 Be7 11.Nf3 0-0 12.0-0 Rac8 13.Bd2 Nd5 14.Rfc1 Rfd8 15.Rab1 a6 16.Qb3 b5 17.Qd1 e5 18.Qf1 Rc7 19.a3 h6 20.Rc2 g5 21.e3 Qe6 22.Rbc1 Nf6 23.Ne1 e4 24.Bc3 exd3 25.Nxd3 Ne4 26.Ne5 Nxg3 27.hxg3 Nxe5 28.Ba5 Rcd7 29.Bxd8 Rxd8 30.Rd1 c4 31.Rxd8+ Bxd8 32.Qd1 Bf6 33.Be4 Qe7 34.Qd5 Kg7 35.Kg2 Nd7 36.Rd2 Nc5 37.Bc2 Bxb2 38.Qf5 Kf8 39.Qc8+ Kg7 40.Kg1 Bf6 41.Rd5 Ne6 42.Bf5 c3 43.Rd7 Qf8 44.Qc6 Nd8 45.Qxa6 Qc5 46.Bc2 Qc4 47.Qd6 Ne6 48.Qb4 Qa2 49.Qe4 Nf8 50.Rb7 Qxa3 51.Qd5 Be7 52.Bb3 Ne6 53.Qe5+ Kg8 54.Bxe6 c2 55.Bxf7+ Kf8 56.Qh8+ Kxf7 57.Qh7+ Kf6 58.Qxc2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nxc7/xe7/b6/b4/c3 2.Rxf4#; 1…Kd3 2.Rxe3#; 1…Kf5 2.Nxf4#./PN