Airthings Masters : all the games in the preliminary

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Airthings Masters

Breaking news: Hikaru wins first blitz game in finals against Magnus Day 7

official site:

www.chess24.com

Magnus needs two wins in a row : first 2nd blitz game and second the armageddon after game 1.

Hikaru very close to win the whole thing !

Hikaru wins critical Ruy Lopez game on day 7 to level the score : details inside

Hikaru went for a sharp version of the anti-berlin 4d3. 

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. h3 Nd7 8. Nc4 a5 9. g4 Re8 10. Rg1! a411. Ne3 Bxe3 12. Bxe3 Nf8 13. h4 Qd6 14. Qd2 c5 15. h5 b5 16. Nh4 Qc6 17. Nf5!

www.chess24.com for full coverage 

 

incredible win in Nimzo by Hikaru Nakamura against Magnus Carlsen

Armageddon game today. Hikaru must draw, Magnus must win for day 5.

 official site: http://www.chess24.com 

  1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Ne2 b6 9. e4 Ne8!

a very important move to prepare f7-f5 and the knight will go back to f6 or d6. Black wants to play Ba6 pressuring c5. Magnus had played this against Giri and Anand in the last months so Hikaru was prepared.

  

  10. O-O Ba6 11. f4 f5! 

White to play

 

The game continued and Hikaru increased his advantage with Black. After his move 30..Nd2! we reached the following 

White to play

If white takes the knight 31 Nxd2 31..Qe3+ wins it back with attack against the king. Magnus pieces ( queen and rook) are too far to defend the lone white king. Magnus played 31 Rd8 but the following occured:31. Rd8 Nxf1 32. Qxf1 Qe3+ 33. Kh2 Re4

www.chess24.com for full coverage 

Berlin Defense rapid games between Nakamura(white) and Carlsen(black) annotated

In this entry, I will analyze Nakamura versus Carlsen game the Ruy Lopez ( Spanish) Berlin Defense with White getting a better opposite bishop ending

  www.chess24.com for full coverage 

 
Great example where White built pressure

Berlin Wall destroyed: Hikaru Nakamura wins in 22 moves against Magnus Carlsen day 3 chess24.com finals

 Berlin Wall is the position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 in the www.chess24.com finals.

Hikaru chose anti-berlin 4 d3 on which Carlsen plays the most popular and active 4..Bc5 

6. Nbd2 O-O (6..Bg4 was played by Carlsen before)  7. Qe2

White hasn't decided where his king will castle

7..Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 b5 10. Ne3 Nf8 11. h4 Ne6? (11..a5 was safer) 

White to play , what did Magnus miss with Black ? I am sure he intended 12..Nd4 but white has 13Nf7! Ne2 14Nd8 with  2 pawns up

12. Nxe5 a5? 13. Qh5! g6 14. Qf3 f6 15. Nxc6! Qd7 16. Qxf6 Qxc6 17. Bc3 

Position after 17 Bc3!

White threatens 18 Qh8+ and h7, and has already 3 pawns for the piece. White can continue the attack with h4-h5 as well as 0-0-0 followed by d3-d4

17...Rf8 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxh7+ Ke8 20. Qxg6+ Kd7 21. d4 b4 22. dxc5 1-0

very convincing win by Hikaru today in the berlin 

Carlsen tactics (Carlsen-Ding Liren 2020 Chess24.com Finals)

today I'd like to go over the game from Magnus Carlsen against Ding Liren, a sharp sicilian defense game.www.chess24.com for full coverage

Critical position 1:

Both players went into a dynamic types of positions ( Sicilian Najdorf by Ding Liren). with Kings on opposite sides. 

White to play in diagram above.

Hint: Magnus was looking at 27 Rf3 and 27Rf7+. Can you calculate the lines ?

Critical position 2 (analysis):

White had to evaluate 27Rf7+ Kf7 28 Qe6+ Kg7 leading to the following diagram, white to play.

can Black defend and what is White's best move ?

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Solution

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Magnus looked at 29 Qe7+ Kg8  30 Nxe5 but 30..Rh7! saves Black.

White would win by playing 29 Ne7! , and here's why:

if 29..Rab8 30 Qg6+ Kf8 31Rf1+ wins

if 29..Rh7 30 Rf1! Qc4 31 Qf7+ Kh8 32 Ng6 checkmate

if 29..Qxc4 30 Qg6+ Kf8 31 Nf5! Qe4+ 32 Ka1 wins.

in the game Magnus played 27Rf3 f5 28 gf6+ Nf6 29 Qg2 Qd7 which allowed Ding to come back into the game. But eventually Magnus won the game anyway.

Chessable Chess24.com Round 1 : Group A and Group B highlights

Key positions focus Round 1 Group A and B


Official Website here



Games featuring Magnus Carlsen, Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Maxime Vachier Lagrave
chess24.com chessable rapid online tournament

Armageddon Dubov-Nakamura chess24 LindoresAbbey #Heritage Chess Key Moments with Analysis

Dubov is white and must win. Nakamura is Black and must draw or win. Opening was 1e4 e5 2Nc3 Vienna Opening. 

Position 1

Here the normal variation should be 12Nf4 Nf4 12Bf4 0-0 13 Qh5 with a += assessment. white's a bit better but the game goes on. Instead, Daniil Dubov chose 12.Bd5! after thinking for 30 seconds which brings us here 

Position 2 

 Now Black had to play 12..fg3+ 13 Ng3 Bd5 14 Qh5 Ne7 with White being better. the point of white's play is that Bd5 and Bc5 are hanging while Black hasn't castled yet. 15 Nd5 Qd5 16 Qd5 Nd5 17Rf5! 0-0-0 18c4! wins the bishop in c5. Black has only two pawns for a piece. But Nakamura doesn't sense the danger and replied 12..Bd5 instantly . He is definitely trying to play fast the opening. Logically the game goes on as this from diagram 12..Bd5?? 13 Nf4 

 Position 3 

 White is attacking the bishop in d5. if you retreat: 13..Be6 14 Ne6 fe6 15Qh5+ Kd7 16 Qc5 wins a piece. The bishop on c5 is loose. So Hikaru spent 15 seconds and played 13..Ne7 on which Dubov replied 14 Qh5 c6 15Ncxd5 cd5 which brings us to the final position 

Position 4 

Can you spot the winning move ? with simple moves, Dubov achieved a winning position in 16 moves. Answer is 16Ne6!

Position 5

 Black is lost here. 16..Qd6 17Ng7+Kd7 18 Rf7! and White converted easily. Replay full game here.

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=yCQrbjry9upl44yoJtmIS6Si6WRQRfF9UrjdPyKspFJnpYXHqRk7LTjHFqt++hk7

Dubov won because he sensed this was a critical position at move 12 and invested 30 seconds to calculate and choose a dangerous move. Nakamura played instantly the obvious reply but this is lost by force. Speed is important but speed at all cost wasn't the right strategy. 

Kudos to Dubov who won the event, after Nakamura eliminated Carlsen in the semi-finals. Dubov had to win against Sergey Karjakin who was also very strong in this format.

Match2 HeritageChess Lindores Abbey Rapid: Nakamura-Dubov Game 1 June 2nd 2020

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Final Game 1 : Dubov upsets Nakamura by winning first game with Black. Sicilian Alapin B22

Dubov-Nakamura Final Game 1- 2/6/2020

also available

Dubov-Nakamura Game 4 (1/2-1/2) on Match 2 : Dutch Opening By Hikaru

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Final Game 4 : Hikaru must win with Black but was held to a draw by Dubov

Dubov-Nakamura Finale Game 4- 2/6/2020

also available

Carlsen-Nakamura Armageddon (Lindores Abbey Online Rapid) #HeritageChess

Hikaru with Black won the decisive game, and the 3rd match ( he lost first match 0-3, won second 2.5-1.5, and had tied 3rd match 2-2). Hikaru will play Daniil Dubov in the final starting June 1st. https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/lindores-abbey-rapid-challenge-2020

Screen Capture from the game

Nakamura-Carlsen Open Variation Ruy Lopez #HeritageChess #LindoresAbbey

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Semi-Final. Match 3 Game 2 : Hikaru is white and prepared based on a game played by Caruana against Giri in Shamkir 2016. Magnus Carlsen was probably aware of the game but took time to find the moves. Eventually he played a different move which wasn't losing but Hikaru increased the pressure.

Nakamura-Carlsen Semi-Final Game 2- 3rd Match 5/30/2020

also available

game 11: drawn. brief analysis with PGN here

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/26/Game179621640.html

Game was balanced, and Carlsen had a relatively easy game with Black; Karjakin had to be careful not to let Black gain initiative but kept it under control.

12th game with Carlsen having White.


Position after16..Qd7, white to play

Carlsen

 Karjakin

Position after19..d5!? , white to play

Carlsen

 Karjakin

Position after 27..a5

Official website : www.worldchess.com

game 10: Carlsen wins game and match is now tied. 2 games left !! analysis

insta-analysis Game 10

Carlsen won long game against Karjakin.

1 win each, 8 draws.

2 games to decide world chess championship. then tie-break if still equal !


Analysis

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/24/Game3430125.html

Black should have played Nf2+

 after d4! white is pressing

 here Carlsen played Nd5!; Rg6! was another good move

Final position, White will win h5 and keep a5

game 9 drawn : analysis, moves explained, world chess championship Karjakin Carlsen

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/24/Game61893796.html

click to replay and check my analysis  ( Pgn of game available)

Here on 13th move, White can play d5, Re1 or 13Bc2 as in the game

middle-game position after ..Qb5!?

Here White had to pick between Qb3 or Bf7+

game 7 analysis (Draw) 11/20/2016

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/20/Game28384515.html

Carlsen

Karjakin

White to play 17th move

Final position

Draw

Match is even

Carlsen has white next

worldchess.com