Opera Euro Rapid SF: Carlsen and So reach the final

A repeated final

The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is the second online tournament tour organized by the Play Magnus Group. In the first, Magnus Carlsen had a magnificent performance, winning all but one event, including the final of the tour. In the current series, however, the world champion has yet to win a tournament, as he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Airthings Masters and lost the final against Wesley So at the Skilling Open.

However, fortunately for him, he will have a chance to redeem himself in the final of the Opera Rapid Euro tournament, as he will once again face So in the final match.

If we look at the results obtained by both finalists in the knockout phase, it is difficult to call Carlsen the favorite, as his matches against Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were only decided at Armageddon, while So achieved cleaner victories over Jan- Krzysztof Duda and Teimour Radjabov.

However, facing a motivated Carlsen is never easy, especially when he’s in a good mood. After his victory over MVL, a visibly cheerful world champion told Kaja Snare:

This was very different from the match against Dubov. I felt that in that game I had made it very, very difficult; I feel like today was more about Maxime playing well and posing some very difficult problems for me.

However, the Norwegian acknowledged that he is not playing at his usual level:

I’m still making horrible mistakes in some of these games, but at least I had a lot more fun today than against Dubov.

Will Carlsen get his first tournament win on the tour? Or, unprecedentedly, will So, defeat the world champion in two consecutive finals?

Click to enlarge

Carlsen * 1: 3 Vachier-Lagrave

Won tiebreaker 2: 1

Ties in the first two games were followed by a pair of Vachier-Lagrave victories. As the man himself mentioned, “horrible mistakes” betrayed the last two quick games. In Game 3, Carlsen’s bishop got caught in the middlegame:

17 … Ne7 simple allowed 18.b4 and the bishop has nowhere to go – 18 … axb4 19.axb4 Rxa1 20.Bxa1 Nf5 21.bxc5 bxc5 and white is one piece up. Carlsen continued to play until play 31, but the result was never in doubt.

In the blitzkrieg, Carlsen started with a win, but saw MVL rebound convincingly in the rematch: both players won with White. The world champion headed for a decisive second to sudden death in a row, and for the second time he got to play with the white pieces.

Perhaps Carlsen’s good humor during the post-match interview had a lot to do with his performance in the Armageddon game, as he scored a convincing victory against a fit opponent. His move 27 was particularly nice:

27.Qh6 it’s a fatal blow. Black can only prevent a quick matte with 27 … Rf6, but after 28.Bxf6 exf6 29.Rxe8 + Qxe8 30.Qe3 it is difficult to put up much resistance even in a lightning game. The resignation occurred on move 40.

GM Karsten Müller analysis

Finals specialist Karsten Müller took a closer look at three games from this match.

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

So 2: 1 Radjabov

For the second game in a row, So qualified for the next stage of the tie without even having to play four games in his second mini-game. Against Radjabov, he tied the first two matches and won the third to secure a place in the final: the American had won the first ‘set’, making it impossible for Radjabov to tie the overall score.

So’s victory in game 3 came after Radjabov, understandably, played a risky opening, leaving his king in the center while ordering the white pieces, not a great idea against a player as technically strong as So :

The Filipino-born grandmaster had no trouble finding the lethal 18 … Nd3 +, when White is forced to hand over his queen with 19.Qxd3 Bxd3 20.Rxb2. The alternatives don’t work: 19.Ke3 meets 19 … Nxf4 (attacking the queen) 20.gxf4 Qxc3 +; while 19.Nxd3 allows 19 … Rxd2 +.

So he turned his lead into a decisive 52-move victory.

GM Karsten Müller analysis

Links