Americans Abroad: So Advances in Riga, Dominguez Dominates in Dortmund

Wesley So advanced to the semi-finals of the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia today, defeating Sergey Karjakin in blitz tiebreaks. Karjakin and So drew their two classical games yesterday, and four rapid (two G/25+10 and two G/10+10) games today, before So could break through in the first blitz (G/5+3) game

Wesley So (photo Niki Riga)

Wesley So and Sergey Karjakin (photo Niki Riga)

So-Karjakin (photo Niki Riga)

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Grand Prix Riga"] [Date "2019.07.17"] [Round "2.7"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A29"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2748"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nd5 Bc5 7. O-O d6 8. e3 Re8 9. d4 Bg4 10. dxc5 e4 11. Nc3 Ne5 12. Nxe5 Bxd1 13. Nxf7 Qe7 14. Nxd6 cxd6 15. cxd6 Qxd6 16. Rxd1 Qe5 17. Bd2 Rad8 18. Be1 b6 19. b3 Rd3 20. Rxd3 exd3 21. Rd1 Rd8 22. Bf1 Qf5 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Rxd3 Kf8 25. cxd5 a5 26. Rd4 Qb1 27. Bc3 Qxa2 28. Bc4 Qc2 29. Rf4+ Ke7 30. Bxg7 Rd6 31. Bf8+ Kd7 32. Bb5+ Kc7 33. Rc4+ 1-0 [/pgn]

So then held with the Black pieces in the second game of the blitz mini-match to advance to the semis, where he will play Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will meet Alexander Grischuk in the other semi-final bracket.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Grand Prix Riga"] [Date "2019.07.17"] [Round "2.8"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "2748"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bb5 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bc7 12. Nd2 Qd6 13. N2f3 Bd7 14. Be2 a6 15. Nc2 Ne4 16. Bd3 Rad8 17. Rc1 Ng5 18. Nce1 d4 19. exd4 Bxh3 20. Ba3 Qf4 21. g3 Qf6 22. d5 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 Nxf3 24. Nxf3 Ne5 25. Rxc7 Nxf3 26. Be2 Ne5 27. d6 Qf5 28. Qd5 h6 29. Kg2 Qe6 30. Qxb7 Ng6 31. Bc4 Nf4+ 32. Kf3 Qh3 33. Rxf7 Qh5+ 34. g4 Qh3+ 35. Kxf4 Qh2+ 36. Kf3 Qh3+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Complete Round 2 Results: So – Karjakin 4.5 - 3.5 Mamedyarov – Duda 2.5 - 1.5 Yu Yangyi – Grischuk 1.5 - 2.5 Vachier-Lagrave – Topalov 1.5 - 0.5 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz-y_HTHzJw/   Meanwhile, Leinier Dominguez stands at +2 (3/4) in the 2019 Dortmund Sparkassen tournament. In today’s fourth round, which is still underway as this goes to press, Dominguez drew Teimour Radjabov with the white pieces. In yesterday’s game (seen above) Dominguez defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in just 25 moves.

[pgn] [Event "47th GM 2019"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2019.07.16"] [Round "3.3"] [White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2775"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2019.07.13"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Bd3 Bxc5 6. Qg4 Ne7 7. b4 h5 (7... Bb6 8. Nf3 a5 9. b5 Ng6 10. h4 f5 11. Qg3 O-O 12. h5 Nh8 13. Bh6 Qe7 14. Bg5 { 1-0 (28) Vitiugov,N (2726)-O'Donnell,C (2360) Batumi 2018}) 8. Qf4 Bb6 9. Nf3 Nbc6 10. Nbd2 a5 11. b5 $5 Nb4 12. Ba3 Nxd3+ 13. cxd3 Bd7 14. Qa4 Nf5 15. Rc1 g5 {Very sharp play from Nepomniachtchi.} 16. h3 Rc8 17. Rxc8 Qxc8 18. Ke2 { a5 is a target, and the Black king is stuck in the center. White should have a decent edge after grabbing the c-file, so Nepo decides to play a prophylactic move with the queen to save a tempo and help guard a5. It also adds pressure to the f2 square. But is it wise to shift the queen to the corner of the board? } Qb8 $6 (18... Qd8 {achieves some of the same ends, but keeps the queen available to switch to the kingside if needed.}) 19. Nb3 Qa7 20. Rc1 g4 $2 { Nepomniachtchi must have miscalculated here. The idea makes sense - open lines on the kingside for the rook to enter the action after a ... Bxf2 idea and play on the dark squares - but there's a fatal flaw in his plan.} (20... Bxf2 $2 {looks scary (with mate looming on e3) but White has an amazing shot:} 21. Rc8+ $1 Bxc8 22. b6+ Bd7 23. bxa7 Bxa4 (23... Bxa7 24. Qxa5) 24. a8=Q+ $18) ({ Reversing course with} 20... Qb8 {might be best.}) 21. hxg4 hxg4 22. Qxg4 { White threatens to play Rh1, and if Black takes the 'free rook,' Qg4-g8+ is mate.} Bxf2 23. Nc5 ({Now} 23. Rh1 $4 {hangs mate after} Qe3+) 23... Bg3 24. Rh1 Rf8 25. Rh5 {With the simple threat of Nxf5 gxf5 Qxg3, winning material and retaining a massive attack.} (25. Rh5 Bxb5 26. Rxf5 exf5 27. Qxg3 b6 (27... Bc6 28. e6 $1) 28. Nb3 $1 {and the rook is in serious trouble.}) 1-0 [/pgn]