Magnus Carlsen wins Champions Chess Tour

The world’s top chess player, Magnus Carlsen, has confirmed his reputation as a player who is virtually invulnerable, at least in tournaments with tight time controls. The Norwegian won the final of the Champions Chess Tour series in Toronto, leaving almost no chance for American grandmaster Wesley So in the decisive match.

This was Magnus Carlsen’s third victory in a row in a series that he himself, in fact, started. The Norwegian grandmaster and his business partners came up with the Champions Chess Tour in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when the online format was more in demand than ever. However, even after meetings directly at the board became possible again, the series survived, turning into a large commercial project. This year, its prize fund was $2 million, and the calendar included six online competitions that determined the eight participants in the final tournament. Now it was held offline in Toronto, which until now had never been associated with chess, but suddenly became so interested in it that it received the right to hold a candidate tournament next spring: it will determine a contender for the title of world champion, who will play with its owner, Chinese Ding Liren.

Magnus Carlsen, as you know, back in 2022, renounced the title that had belonged to him for almost ten years. And the new round of his career actually looks quite strange. Carlsen remains at the top of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings. But, strictly speaking, precisely in the most traditional chess format, when time control is classic and the game is played over the board, things weren’t going too well for him in 2023. In fact, the Norwegian won only one notable victory in it, winning the World Cup in Baku in the summer. And the knockout system is still not a pure classic.

At the same time, the pure classics were full of failures. In the winter, Magnus Carlsen somehow took third place at the super tournament in Wijk aan Zee, then performed unconvincingly at his home Norway Chess, and at the Qatar Masters in the fall he managed to finish sixteenth. In general, it doesn’t really look like how a chess frontman should perform.

However, in competitions with fast and super-fast control, he showed a completely different game. In them, he was practically invulnerable, taking away trophy after trophy – no matter online or offline.

In the Champions Chess Tour, which plays rapid and, if necessary, blitz, of the six stages leading up to the final, Magnus Carlsen won three. Well, the final status was confirmed convincingly, even too convincingly.

The tournament culminated in a play-off, which consisted of two stages. They used a system that many of those covering it called “tennis.” Each match consisted of sets. There are four games in a set with quick control, in case of a draw there is a blitz tiebreaker. To get the better of your opponent, you need to win in two sets.

In the semi-finals, Magnus Carlsen faced American Fabiano Caruana, one of his most important opponents and number two in the rankings. He seemed to fight stubbornly, but was unable to do anything against the Norwegian in the tiebreaks. In the decisive match, Caruana’s compatriot Wesley So fought against Carlsen. So seemed to be in excellent shape, and at the preliminary stage he even managed to defeat the Norwegian. But his words after the semi-final against the Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusattorov perfectly summed up how So himself assesses his chances. “Magnus, if you can hear me, please don’t be too harsh on me tomorrow,” the grandmaster asked with a smile.

Naturally, there was no talk of any mercy. Neither tone nor tricky opening preparations helped Wesley So. Against the backdrop of Magnus Carlsen’s trademark ability to extract an advantage from nothing, from “dead” positions, they did not work. This time there were no tiebreakers in both sets.

Alexey Dospehov