The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen had to win an Armageddon tie-break to get past Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in his Opera Euro Semifinals. Carlsen had won the first set so MVL needed to strike back. After two draws MVL won the after Carlsen yet again made a simple tactical blunder, he cut the final retreat square from his bishop and after MVL attacked it with a pawn it was lost. In the fourth game of the set Carlsen needed to win, instead in an equal position he again blundered simply with 23.Nd4 overlooking 23...Qe4 which caused his position to collapse. Carlsen has at least shown his fighting ability because in the first blitz game he scored a very smooth victory. In the second game Carlsen could have finished things quick after MVL's 13.b5? 13...Bxc3 won a lot of material, instead 13...axb5 happened and the game continued, Carlsen did achieve an equal position according to the computer after 26...dxc3 but it was a really horrible position to defend and MVL went on to win. In the final Armageddon game Carlsen got a very nice position out of the opening, MVL's position was the one that was hard to play and after 19.Qb3 Carlsen was practically winning and was soon objectively so too - the game ended on move 40. Carlsen's frailties in calculation are a problem but he has still progressed to the final. In interview afterwards Carlsen seemed up beat and did not think the mistakes were as self inflicted as against Dubov. I really can't agree with that but other parts of his game - opening preparation, technical conversion and blitz play seem to be working well.

Wesley So completed a comprehensive victory over Teimour Radjabov by winning games three and four. So has looked the most impressive player by far in this tournament. The Carlsen vs So final is a repeat of the Skilling Open that So won and which seemed to mark the start of Carlsen's confidence crisis. Can he take the chance to end the crisis by beating So? We'll soon see.

Final Magnus Carlsen vs Wesley So starts 4pm UK time on Saturday 13th Feb. There is also a 3rd-4th placed playoff between MVL and Radjabov.