Alireza Firouzja added classics – Sport – Kommersant

Alireza Firouzja, a French grandmaster of Iranian origin, won his second major victory in a row in St. Louis. The teenage child prodigy, who a couple of weeks ago outstripped all rivals in the American chess capital in rapid and blitz competitions, has now become the best in “classics” there as well. At the Sinquefield Cup tie-break, Firouzja, who, according to the results of the round-robin tournament, had an equal number of points with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, nevertheless managed to snatch the victory from him – 1.5:0.5. The points earned in St. Louis ensured the Iranian the first line in the final standings of the Grand Chess Tour series and a $272,000 bonus.

The French 19-year-old grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, who until recently was considered the main chess prodigy, has achieved another great success. He won the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis – this is the final, fifth stage of one of the most prestigious series of the Grand Chess Tour. In addition, the athlete led the overall standings at the end of it. In aggregate, according to the results of all tournaments in the series, the French chess player received 36.5 points, leaving American Wesley So far behind who became the second with 30 points, and earned $272,000.

The victory at the Sinquefield Cup is already the second high-profile triumph of Firouzja in the last two weeks, mined in St. Louis. At the end of August, he won the rapid and blitz competitions, setting an interesting record. Firouzja, who did not suffer a single defeat, managed to earn 107.6 rating points during the blitz tournament and overcome the 2900 mark, which until recently looked unattainable. And now he has shown his power in the “classics” as well.

The victory went to Firouzja under rather dramatic circumstances. He was helped in many ways by the American grandmaster Hans Niemann, who, after the third round, became the most discussed character at the tournament due to an incident involving world champion Magnus Carlsen.

After the Norwegian was defeated by Nieman, who had the lowest rating among ten participants, he wrote on Twitter that he was withdrawing from the tournament. Although Carlsen did not specify what caused his extreme reaction, chess website writers and Internet users confidently assumed that, taking into account the Norwegian’s hints, he considered the underdog’s victory obtained through dishonest methods – the so-called cheating, which consists in obtaining tips.

Although Niemann denied the fact of unfair play, Carlsen did not appear at the board in the fourth round of the competition.

It is noteworthy that it was Nieman who then, in the very last round, added a lot of problems to the leader of Russian chess, Ian Nepomniachtchi, who performed extremely convincingly during the competition. If the Russian had defeated the American, he would have become the undisputed winner of the Sinquefield Cup. But Nepomniachtchi, having an absolutely advantageous position in this game, hurried and made a gross misfire: he did not use the obvious variation of capturing a pawn. As a result, the rivals parted in peace, and instead of one point, Nepomniachtchi earned only half.

Firouzja could not believe in such a combination of circumstances, who was running second with a meager lag: “Nepomniachtchi won the game today against Niman, so it’s a miracle that I got to the tie-break.” In this tie-break, youth took over. The first game with a 15-minute time control ended in a draw, and in the second game Alireza Firouzja managed to put pressure on his opponent who had begun to swim.

Ekaterina Remizova