CHESS #1404

Magnus Carlsen confirmed that he was human when he lost to Hikaru Nakamura after taking a 3-0 lead in their semifinal at the Lindores Abbey. The format of three mini-matches of four rapid games each, with an Armageddon decider in each match if required, is interesting. It gives somebody who’s trailing a better chance to break back. Nakamura lost the first match 3-0, won the second match 1-0 and won an Armageddon after the third match was tied 1-1.
 

Carlsen has lost very few clutch games in his life. But he blundered a rook here under intense pressure. In another banter blitz session, he also lost to Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin, who applied pressure until the world champion blundered.
 

Meanwhile Daniil Dubov won his first match against Ding Liren 2-0 and his second match 2-0 as well. Dubov, who’s a fan favourite for his uncompromising style, is also Carlsen’s second. He took revenge for his boss by beating Nakamura in the finals to win $45,000 while Naka takes home $27,000.
 

Dubov won the first match of the finals 2-1, lost the second match 1-0 and took an Armageddon after the third match was tied 1-1. The Armageddon game was nerve-wracking. Nakamura blundered to give Dubov a winning advantage but he had trouble putting it away, missing several easy wins before he found an attractive combination to end it. Dubov confessed that he would have rather played and beaten Carlsen but, of course, he’ll take victory any day.

The Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland may happen over the board! This is the 53rd edition and it’s tentatively scheduled for mid-July. The organisers are looking to cancel some of the high-volume opens but they are hoping to hold the apex 8-player Round Robin. One innovation may be using two boards for the same game with each player sitting with only his pieces on his board to maintain social distancing. Working out clock movements will be tricky though given that micro-seconds can matter.
 

If it happens, Vidit Gujrathi would return as the defending champion in a field consisting of Alexandra Goryachkina, Gata Kamsky, Michael Adams, Liem Le Quang, Romain Edouard, Vincent Keymer, and Noël Studer as the current Swiss Champion.

At the Diagram, Black to Play (White: DubovVs Black: Nakamura, Armageddon, Lindores Finals 2020) , black must play 12.-- fxg3+ 13. Ng3 Bxd5 14. Qh5 Ne7 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. Qxd5 Nxd5 17. Rf5 and now 17.-O-O-O 18. c4 Nb4 19. Rxc5 Nxd3 gives him some chances to fight on, despite the material deficit. Black played 12..-Bxd5?? 13. Nxf4 Ne7 14. Qh5!? c6 15. Nfxd5 cd5 16. Ne6! and white won after 16.-Qd6 17. Nxg7+ Kd7 18. Rxf7 (1-0, 45 moves).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player