GM Magnus Carlsen completed the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in fashion as he additionally gained his seventh and ultimate match, towards GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The world champion scored a shocking 20/21, seven factors greater than runner-up GM Wesley So.

Earlier within the event, the Carlsen-Duda pairing within the ultimate spherical was a mouth-watering perspective. In the previous couple of rounds the Polish grandmaster ran out of steam, giving Carlsen the prospect to safe event victory with a spherical to spare. This was an advantageous state of affairs for the winner, who stated: “Today was only a pleasure to play, realizing I had it within the bag and I may simply calm down.”

Carlsen was crucial of his two white video games, the place he did not present his greatest chess however received away with two attracts. As he had gained the second recreation as Black, he solely wanted a attract recreation 4, however tried to win it anyway.

“There was a second within the final recreation the place, after he went for 39.Bb2 I used to be considering, 39…Nxe3+ adopted by 40…Nc4 was a direct draw, however then I believed, , it is the final recreation of the season, let’s attempt to finish on a excessive observe however I did not actually handle to transform it so I needed to power a draw however then he needed to go for a draw in fact, however what he did simply misplaced as an alternative.”

As the winner of the Finals, Carlsen claimed a “bonus” first prize of $50,000 in San Francisco. Together along with his first place within the general standings, the world champion collected $242,400 in whole Tour earnings, whereas his opponent Duda gained $162,500 for second place.

So can’t be discovered within the Tour leaderboard (see beneath) as he solely performed within the Finals, the place his second place was good for $32,500. He ended up dropping his final match to GM Anish Giri however as a result of his foremost rivals additionally misplaced, So saved his second place.

“It was a really enjoyable match,” stated So, after a battle that had gone the total seven video games, together with an armageddon the place he had the white items. “I believe we each performed very solidly within the fast format however within the blitz the video games had been very ‘fascinating’ [laughs] and likewise within the armageddon it was forwards and backwards, loopy. I used to be attempting to flag him nevertheless it did not work out.”

Giri: “Today I’ve completed all of my targets. First of all I did not lose the match in three video games, secondly, I performed one good recreation, and third, the purpose I could not even have dreamt of: that I gained the match. It’s true redemption for me.”

Here’s the armageddon recreation, which noticed a loopy time-scramble:

The all-Indian match between GM Praggnanandhaa R. and GM Arjun Erigaisi was gained by the 2 years youthful Pragg. Both gained a recreation, and one resulted in a draw, when Erigaisi was tricked within the opening in recreation 4.

“He fell for this entice with 12…c5 13.Rxa6! which is meant to be very unhealthy for Black,” knew Praggnanandhaa. “This trade sac is excellent compensation and it is nearly near profitable for White.”

GM Le Quang Liem resulted in fourth place in each the general Tour and the Finals. In the ultimate spherical, the Vietnamese GM beat GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov thrice, versus one misplaced recreation. The first recreation noticed an interesting, study-like ultimate section:

Final Standings

All video games day 7

Final Tour Standings

The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals happened November 14-20, 2022 on chess24. The format was an eight-player round-robin; every spherical had four-game fast matches, and the winner received three factors. The time management was quarter-hour for every recreation plus a 10-second increment. A tiebreak adopted instantly in case of a 2-2 tie and in that case, the winner received two factors and the loser, one.

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