- World Champion recovers from 'funk'
- 24 of 40 games end with a win
- Round-robin stage resumes tomorrow
The Opera Euro Rapid online chess event got off to an explosive start as World Champion Magnus Carlsen won four in a row to end the day out on top.
The Norwegian went into the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour tournament on the back of a poor run of form he described as a "funk".
But after an early wobble that stoked fears, he wasn't out of it, Carlsen roared back to post a quadruple of back-to-back wins.
Carlsen said afterward: "I wouldn't say the funk is over but what I would say is that this was a very enjoyable day of chess and I tried to win every game."
The result, Carlsen said, was "awesome". He added: "Overall I'm very happy with my play - the spirit I had to always try for the maximum!"
After losing to Wesley So in Round 1, Carlsen's victims were Airthings Masters finalist Levon Aronian, German number 1 Matthias Bluebaum, 2018 US champ Sam Shankland and finally Cuban-American Leinier Dominguez.
The champion wasn't alone in hunting down wins. All 16 stars in action appeared to throw caution to the wind as an impressive 24 of the first 40 round-robin games finished decisively.
In fact, the drama kicked off only seconds after the start of play as the Russian Alexander Grischuk made a horrible mouse-slip just four moves in.
With the odds stacked against him, Grischuk then went on to save a draw against Anish Giri.
The prelim stage taking place now is the first act of the $100,000 Opera Euro Rapid as the players battle it out to make it into the last eight knockout.
Carlsen finished Day 1 of the nine-day tournament on 4/5, half a point ahead of Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Teimour Radjabov are tied for fourth place.
Opera is the official browser of the Tour and title partner of the event which carries a $100,000 prize pot.
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, organized by the Play Magnus Group, is the first full season of top-level online chess events.
It comprises nine Regular and Major tournaments culminating in a $300,000 Final which starts in September.
All matches are played in a rapid chess format with blitz and “armageddon” tie-breaks if needed.
The logo chosen for the event represents Daniil Dubov’s sensational win over World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the last Tour event, the Airthings Masters.
For further information, please contact:
Leon Watson, PR for Champions Chess Tour
leon@chessable.com
+44 7786 078 770
About Play Magnus AS
The 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, CoChess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the 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.
About Meltwater
Meltwater is the title partner of the Tour. Meltwater is a global leading provider of social and media intelligence. By examining millions of posts each day from social media platforms, blogs and news sites, and using patented artificial intelligence systems, Meltwater helps companies make better, more informed decisions based on insight from the outside.
