Magnus Carlsen stormed into the Chessable Masters knockout stage today as his main rival overcame an almighty scare. The World Champion turned around a disappointing day 1 to march up the leaderboard and finish joint-top of Group A in the $150,000 online chess super-tournament.
Carlsen said: “It was a bit nervy, at least at the very start, but certainly after I made a draw in the third game against Sasha [Alexander Grischuk] I calmed down and after that it was comfortable.”
Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura – the #1 in blitz rating seen as Carlsen’s biggest threat – needed a dramatic final round win on demand to make it through. It averted what would have been a huge shock but meant Daniil Dubov, the young Russian who won the last Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour event, was dumped out instead.
It was harsh on Dubov, who finished level on points with Nakamura and three-time World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk but went out on a tiebreaker.
Vladislav Artemiev, the in-form Russian GM who led after the first day, finished level with Carlsen at the top on 6 points.
The day’s play started with an eagerly-awaited marquee match between Carlsen and Nakamura which saw the Norwegian score a thumping win.
Nakamura was never in it and, having drawn all his previous encounters, sunk below 50 percent and into the drop-zone.
In the other games, bottom-of-the-barrel Pentala Harikrishna’s loss to in-form Vladislav Artemiev which also left the Indian teetering on the edge of elimination. Harikrishna badly needed a win against Carlsen to stay in the running but, despite counter-attacking hard, was held to a draw which effectively ended his challenge.
Artemiev, who led Group A after the first day, then lost against Dubov and the result left the pair level at the top. Nakamura, meanwhile, split the point with Grischuk.
Round 8 was cagey as all three games were also drawn. Nakamura saved a difficult position against Grischuk, who missed a good opportunity to put himself in the top 4.
Round 9 set up a fascinating finish. Carlsen put in a virtuoso performance to down Dubov and leapfrog the Russian in a menacing fashion.
It took Carlsen to 5.5 points and secured his place in the knockout alongside Artemiev, who safely drew against Grischuk. For Dubov, however, it meant he now needed a draw in the final round to go through.
Nakamura, meanwhile, was by now clearly out-of-sorts. But yet again he escaped what seemed like a lost position, this time against Harikrishna, to pick up a fortunate draw.
In the final round, Grischuk was fighting it out for one of the final two places with several scenarios possible. Nakamura finally found his form to beat Dubov and sneak into the top 4 on the pair’s head-to-head score while Grischuk powered past Harikrishna to also edge past his fellow Russian.
Carlsen, Artemiev, Nakamura, and Grischuk now go through to the quarter-finals which start on Thursday and will be joined by four more players from Group B.
About the tournament
The event, which runs until July 5, is being put on in association with Chessable and the tour’s Education Partner, leading Swiss private banking group, Julius Baer. Players are split into two groups (A and B) of six which play on alternate days for the preliminary stage before eight progress to the knockouts.
The final winner will take home top prize of $45,000 and a ticket to the $300,000 tour Grand Final.
Coverage begins with commentary in 10 languages at 16.00 CEST.
You can watch it live here: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/chessable-masters-2020-group-a#live
Highlights English:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dpG2c-dmqs58tSDSZvxzGNqzgquJyO0g?usp=sharing
New files at around 23.00 CEST
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Leon Watson
leon@chessable.com
