CHESS

THE Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge online tournament finished last Wednesday. In the semi-finals young Russian GM Daniil Dubov knocked out Ding Liren, while Hikaru Nakamura overcame Magnus Carlsen — usually a very difficult opponent for him.

In the final, Dubov defeated Nakamura in a tie-break ‘armageddon’ game. The winner received $45,000 and a place in the Magnus Carlsen Tour Final in August, while the runner-up won $25,000.

Dubov has long been excelling in blitz and rapid chess, winning the 2018 World Rapid Chess Championship ahead of Carlsen. I would like to show one of his wins from the semi-final against the world’s No 2 player:

Ding Liren – Dubov 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.0–0 Nbd7 6.Na3 Nb6 7.Qc2 Be6 8.Ne5 h5 9.Naxc4 Nxc4 10.Nxc4 h4 11.Ne5 hxg3 12.hxg3 Qc8 13.Rd1 Bh3 14.Bf3 g6 15.b4 Bg7 16.Bb2 Kf8

Black no longer needed to castle as his rook would be better off on the h-file.

17.a4?!

White is going to attack the c6–pawn, but the immediate 17.b5! would have been more appropriate in the fight for the initiative.

17...Nh7 19.bxc6?? (D)