The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So are to meet in the final of the FTX Crypto Cup after defeating Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the semifinals. This is the third time on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour that they've met in the final, So beat Carlsen both in the Skilling Open and the Opera Euro Rapid, they also met in the third-fourth playoff of the Magnus Carlsen invitational where Carlsen won. Wesley So is undefeated in the FTX Crypto Cup thus far.

Wesley So survived a testing game one of the second set as black against the English. So thought Nepomniachtchi must have missed a win, it seems 26.Bxd4? was the moment So was out of danger, 26.Qd3 is the move recommended by computers but that is hardly clearly winning. So quickly drew game two with the white pieces and Nepomniachtchi decided to go all in the third game and unfortunately for him So knew the chosen variation much better than him and was quickly slightly better. 19.d5? was just a bad move and So ruthlessly wrapped up the game and match from there. Having won on the first day So only needed to draw the second set.

Magnus Carlsen spent some time trying to equalise as black in game one, which he managed by move 17, but he also kept things going after that and Rajdabov's pieces got in a tangle. This translated to the better side of the resulting endgame. 40.Kd5? walking into a pin with his knight was the decisive error from Radjabov (40.Ke3!) and he had to resign just a few moves later. Carlsen was happy to draw game two quickly with white - a controversial strategy that often works but also can change the momentum of the match - in game three Radjabov got very good winning chances in a Rook and Pawn endgame. Later Radjabov clearly had a winning advantage but his 51.Rg8+? which looked like a finesse in fact allowed Carlsen to get to a drawn position - 51.b3 or 51.Rd8 would have kept the decisive advantage. It's obviously terribly hard to win with black against Carlsen, in the final game 4 Radjabov managed through 1.e4 b6 to get a complicated Ruy Lopez style position with all the pieces on but he couldn't generate any winning chances. After his 30...Bf5? grabbing the exchange his position fell apart almost immediately.

Final: Carlsen-So and 3rd-4th tie-break: Nepomniachtchi-Radjabov.