GM Magnus Carlsen is the one participant left on an ideal 12/12 rating on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals after beating GM Anish Giri 3-0 in spherical 4. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda misplaced his first match, to GM Le Quang Liem, whereas GM Arjun Erigaisi gained his first match, in opposition to GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Having secured victory of the Champions Chess Tour already earlier than the Finals, Carlsen now has glorious probabilities to win the final occasion as properly. Another clear sweep of three wins meant one other comparatively brief day on the workplace, and the total three match factors.

On Thursday, the world champion gained what was principally a psychological battle with Giri. It began with a pleasant victory with the black items the place he used the French protection.

Carlsen: “I performed it a bit in Miami, I beat him within the Advance French there, so it is not fully new. It’s good to maintain him guessing.”

Also within the second sport, Giri was doing OK out of the opening as Carlsen performed not too ambitiously in opposition to the Grunfeld however he then outmaneuvered Giri anyway. What occurred within the third sport stunned the commentators:

Giri stated about not taking up e5 with the rook: “I actually paused pondering {that a} weaker participant than me would pause right here and contemplate completely different captures however a participant like me will take with the rook immediately. And then I take with the pawn. It’s actually, like, subsequent stage. OK, I went very deep with my pondering, but it surely’s so tousled. Instead of constructing a transfer that involves thoughts, I’m going, like, meta, and it is actually backfiring.”

In extra common phrases, Giri stated: “Honestly sooner or later I used to be pondering that perhaps, as a result of my outcomes weren’t so good in opposition to him, that perhaps he’s only a superior participant, however as we speak I noticed there may be positively extra to it than him being a superior participant. And I believe it was helpful for me. I’m certain subsequent time I’ll play higher as a result of it is unimaginable to play worse.”

Duda could not maintain tempo with Carlsen. The Polish GM was struggling whereas Le, enjoying from his house in St. Louis, had an excellent day.

“Definitely it is a large win, as a result of he has been doing so properly on this event,” stated Le. “The earlier matches he gained very convincingly, so I advised myself that I ought to simply attempt to benefit from the sport and attempt to play my greatest. And previously few tournaments within the Tour I did fairly properly in opposition to him so I wasn’t too involved.”

Here’s his win in sport three, which got here after two attracts:

After beginning with two losses, GM Wesley So is totally again on observe, profitable his subsequent two matches. In a detailed match, he got here out victoriously vs. GM Praggnanandhaa R. 

“I do not assume I performed something spectacular,” stated So. “Pragg was enjoying very properly, very stable. He simply over-pushed in sport three and , if you happen to lose with the white items in a four-game match it is nearly unimaginable to come back again.”

With the rounds beginning previous midnight, the event hasn’t been straightforward for Erigaisi however within the fourth spherical he lastly received on the scoreboard. He drew his two black video games, and gained his two white video games in opposition to Mamedyarov.

The final transfer of their match may have come from Puzzle Rush. How rapidly can you notice it?

Day 4 Standings

All video games day 4

The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals happen November 14-20, 2022 on chess24. The format is an eight-player round-robin; every spherical has four-game speedy matches, and the winner will get three factors. The time management is quarter-hour for every sport plus a 10-second increment. A tiebreak follows instantly in case of a 2-2 tie and in that case, the winner will get two factors and the loser, one.

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