Oslo Esports Cup starts with thumping win for Carlsen
The world’s first fully in-person chess e-sports event, the Oslo Esports Cup, got under way on Friday with World Champion Magnus Carlsen in imperious form. Carlsen, who is going for a hat-trick of wins in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, rounded off the challenge of Polish No.1 Jan-Krzysztof Duda with a thumping 2.5-0.5 victory. The Norwegian even managed to survive a second-game experiment on move 1 as he opened with the highly-dubious 1.f3 – not a standard move at the elite level. That game ended in a draw. The $210,000 all-play-all event is being played over seven days at chess24.com’s e-sports arena in Oslo and is the first online chess tournament of its kind. Carlsen, who went into the tournament topping the overall Tour standings, said of his Round 1 result: “It’s pretty good. Three games, that’s the best you can do.” On playing the experimental 1.f3, Carlsen added: “I planned to play that regardless, I’ve been trying to experiment to see what first moves you can make playable. “But I cannot say that experience was too successful because I didn’t remember what to do and had to improvise. “I’ve definitely been trying to play creatively in many of these events so I intend to continue that. Not as a rule, but once in a while and I think it’s been working pretty well getting my opponents a little out of book and keeping them on their toes.” In the other matches, the fast-improving Indian teen Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa also dispatched his opponent, the Dutchman Jorden van Foreest, in only three games. Liem Quang Le, the Airthings Master finalist, had a tough start to the tournament going down 2.5-1.5 to Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov. The final match to finish saw tournament underdog, popular streamer Eric Hansen who is ranked 237 in the world, suffer a first-round loss to Dutch No.1 Anish Giri. Round 2 starts at 18:00 CEST on Saturday with Carlsen taking on Liem in a repeat of the Airthings Masters final. Full coverage with commentary from the Oslo arena is available on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels. For further comments contact: Leon Watson leon@championschesstour.com About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.championschesstour.com. About Play Magnus Group Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading brands: chess24, Chessable, iChess, New In Chess, Everyman Chess, Silver Knights, Aimchess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. Play Magnus Group is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker PMG. www.pmg.me
American Cup: Day 2 Recap
An action packed day saw five matches decided in the playoffs and one match (Caruana-Xiong) made it all the way to Armageddon, finishing in a dramatic time scramble. After all was said and done, Aronian, Dominguez, Sevian, and Caruana from the Open Field along with Krush, Tokhirjonova, Lee, and Abrahamyan from the Women’s Field advanced to the next stage of the Champions Bracket. Meanwhile the rest of the players were relegated to the Elimination Bracket, where they will get a second chance to win the tournament starting tomorrow. Classical Results – Open Field Classical Results – Women’s Field Rapid Results – Both Fields The time control for the event is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for all games in the Champions Bracket, with a rapid time control of 25+10 for the Elimination Bracket and a 10+5 time control for all playoff matches. OPEN FIELD – CHAMPIONS BRACKET ROBSON – ARONIAN After losing yesterday’s game, Robson needed to strike back today and was gifted a fantastic exchange sacrifice opportunity thanks to a strange slip by Aronian in the opening. Robson then continued well to reach a winning endgame with 6 pawns for a piece, that he went on to eventually convert, forcing a playoff. 12.Rxc6! bxc6 13.Nxe5 left White with a pawn and excellent compensation for the exchange. | 1-0, 73 moves The first game of the playoff saw the players repeat the English Opening from earlier, but this time Aronian was much better prepared, putting serious pressure on the board and on the clock. In a slightly worse position, Robson overlooked a tactical blow that was simply winning for Black on the spot, and Aronian pounced on the chance to win the first game. In the second game Robson managed to get a slightly better position out of the opening, and again went for an exchange sacrifice to create some serious imbalance. However this sacrifice was less promising, and Aronian had few issues defending and securing the draw. Aronian bounced back nicely after losing the second classical game SHANKLAND – DOMINGUEZ The second classical game in this match was fairly solid throughout, with neither player making any significant mistakes on the way to a draw. However Dominguez started to pull away in the rapid playoff, after nearly winning the first game with Black he then managed to outplay Shankland in a very sharp ending in the second game, taking the match. Dominguez was able to show better nerves in the rapid playoff SEVIAN – SO Needing to win today So chose an unusual variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, where White gets a slightly better endgame but with plenty of pieces on the board. Hoping to outplay Sevian in the endgame, So did not succeed and was even worse when the players decided to repeat moves in a rook ending. The draw allowed Sevian to advance to the next stage, as well as cross 2700 FIDE in live rating for the first time in his career, a huge milestone. America’s latest 2700, the 21-year-old GM Sam Sevian XIONG – CARUANA A second draw in the classical meant the players would decide it all in the rapid playoff. While Xiong was not able to get anything in the first rapid game, in the second Caruana gained a nearly strategically winning position right out of the opening. But Xiong held with persistent defense, and the players would head into Armageddon. The Armageddon match saw Caruana having White with 5 minutes against Xiong’s 4 minutes, along with draw odds. A repeat of the previous rapid game gave Caruana another overwhelming position, though again he was unable to convert and even eventually finding himself in a lost endgame. A time scramble ensued and in a completely won ending Xiong ended up flagging while making his 60th move, losing the game. Had he gotten his move down in time, the clock would have activated a 2-second increment starting with the 61st move. After a tense Armageddon, Caruana was visibly relieved WOMEN’S FIELD – CHAMPIONS BRACKET YAN – KRUSH After winning Game 1, Krush surprised her opponent with the Four Knights Sicilian today, an opening she had never played before. Yan quickly faltered out of the opening and soon it was only Black (Krush) who could play for the win, with the game ultimately drawn in the end. Top seed GM Irina Krush had few problems advancing to the next stage TOKHIRJONOVA – NEMCOVA Also needing just a draw to advance, Tokhirjonova found a solid setup with White in a Queen’s Gambit Declined and obtained a small advantage out of the opening. To the commentators’ surprise, Nemcova allowed a repetition of moves early in the middlegame and the game was soon drawn. LEE – TSOLAKIDOU After a rollercoaster draw yesterday, today’s game was less hectic, with Lee missing a chance to gain a decisive advantage out of the opening and later being unable to create serious winning chances, resulting in a draw. The first game of the playoff looked quite drawish as the players entered an endgame with opposite colored bishops. However in time trouble Tsolakidou ended up pushing too hard and blundered away the game. Tsolakidou’s 64…Bxa6 was the losing move, as White reached a winning ending after 65.Kxg6 e1=Q 66.Bxe1 Kxe1 67.Kxh5. Instead 64…e1=Q would save the game, as after 65.Bxe1 Kxe1 66.a7 Be4 Black would be up a tempo compared to the game, and just in time to hold. Thanks to a trendy exchange sacrifice in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Lee was able to control the second game of the playoff and even went on to win it, clinching the playoff 2-0. 12-year-old Alice Lee is the youngest participant in the field ABRAHAMYAN – ZATONSKIH Facing a must-win situation, Abrahamyan seized a serious advantage after Zatonskih misplayed the opening in Petroff Defense. Although Tatev was unable to capitalize effectively, she did manage to reach a heavy piece endgame which was quite unpleasant for Black. Zatonskih held her ground for some time but ended up missing
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