The Week in Chess

Levon Aronian beat a struggling Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the black pieces to catch Fabiano Caruana in the lead of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament after three rounds. Duda played a very solid line in the Four Knights with white but was gradually outplayed in the rook endgame. The final phase after move 50 could be set for the instruction books as it is very complicated. Alireza Firouzja drew a very interesting reverse Gruenfeld against Fabiano Caruana, in a must win Armageddon with white he managed to prevail. Magnus Carlsen played a Rauzer variation of the Sicilian against Aryan Tari. Carlsen was worse at one point but starting with 23...Nh5? Tari completely lost the thread of the position and was losing immediately. Carlsen's 26...Re1 was a fine tactic that won material and eventually the game.

Round 3 Standings: 1st= Aronian, Caruana 7pts. 3rd Carlsen 6pts, 4th Firouzja, Alireza 5½ 5th= Duda, Tari 0pts.

Round 4 4pm BST Thursday 8th Oct 2020 Carlsen-Caruana, Aronian-Alireza, Tari-Duda