The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters by 2 sets to 0 after winning day two 2.5-1.5 but he hardly had things his own way. Carlsen won a stunning first game but the remaining games were about "survival" as he did not play well and Giri had opportunities to win all three games.

"Today, so many missed opportunities...." "it was really a shame not to have made it at least 2-2" Giri.

In game one Carlsen sacrificed a pawn for tremendous play - although after the game Giri revealed he too had seen the idea although some time ago and with analysis from a clearly weaker computer. Giri was left trying to find a decent setup for his pieces in a very difficult position as Carlsen bashed out his preparation which went at least up to 21.h4. Giri's 21...Rcd8 was not a good move but after that Carlsen hit his position with one hammer blow after another forcing resignation in 34 moves. Game two was generally fine for Carlsen except he blundered his entire position away for one move with 14...Be6? after which 15.Qh6 followed by Ng5 is unstoppable - f6 would normally be the defensive move but because the unfortunate position of the Be6 it loses that piece. Giri perhaps fortunately didn't realise he'd missed a chance until looking at the game afterwards, he said he'd briefly considered the move before when it didn't work but didn't consider it when it did.

After that Carlsen - subconsciously or not - seemed to be playing to protect his lead and this lead to two fine opportunities for Giri. In game three Carlsen had white in an English and was a little worse out of the opening and after 26.Kh2 (26.c5 or 26.Qb4 were better) this advantage became serious but not easy to exploit with very little time. Most likely 30...h4 reduced black's advantage and in the end Giri had to repeat in order not to lose on time. In game four Giri denied Carlsen any counter play but relaxed for a moment in a position where he thought the job was done but with 35.Qxf5? (35.Nf6 wins although there is some work to be done) Qe2! hits two pieces and equalises for black at once. Giri spotted this straight after he made his move.

Next up is the "Legends of Chess" event starting on July 21st which will have the same or very similar format to this event. We know Carlsen, Giri, Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi will play alongside legends such as Viswanthan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler (these names were all teased during the broadcast).

In the race to the final four player event Carlsen and Daniil Dubov will play but because Carlsen has now won his second event the over all standings between the none winners become relevant. Hikaru Nakamura leads those - it's not clear he will even play the Legends of Chess event, the full lineup has yet to be announced.