Norway Chess: Aronian beats Carlsen, Firouzja secures second place

10/17/2020 – The Altibox Norway Chess 2020 tournament came to an end on Friday. Magnus Carlsen had clinched the tournament victory with a round to spare, but ended the event with a loss to Levon Aronian. Alireza Firouzja, 17, came in second thanks to a final round win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In the only match that went to Armageddon in round 10, Fabiano Caruana defeated Aryan Tari. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

“We want to play chess”

In these uncertain times, and given that Magnus Carlsen had won the event ahead of time, most of the conversation after the tournament was over had to do with future competitions and whether or not they will take place online. Levon Aronian told Fiona Steil-Antoni:

We are chess players, we want to play chess, so I think I will take any opportunity to play chess. For us pros, I think it doesn’t really matter if we play online or play on the board. We try to do our best.

Meanwhile, the only Candidate who played in Stavanger, Fabiano Caruana, referred to FIDE’s decision to host the second half of the Candidates Tournament in the spring of next year:

I think right now [it is the right decision]. Things are getting worse all over the world and it is a risk to the health of the players and everyone who will participate in the tournament. […] I don’t think we should compromise people’s safety to play chess.

However, Caruana does not like playing online very much:

I prefer on the board. I mean, online chess is fun, but after a while it gets a bit … you know, playing non-stop events and playing so many games that you run out of energy. And I’m not a huge fan of looking at the screen in general.

Coming back to the tournament, the victories of Aronian and Alireza Firouzja were the stories of the day. After remaining undefeated for 125 games, Carlsen lost twice in a week, with Aronian securing the only third place with a win over the world champion in round 10. However, beating Carlsen was not enough to finish immediately below him. in qualifying, as Firouzja finished the tournament in style, beating Jan-Krzysztof Duda in his classic game.

Firouzja led the event for a while and saw his chances of winning the tournament immediately disappear when he made a serious mistake against Carlsen in round 9. The young man commented:

Today I feel happy, but in general I am a bit disappointed because I was very close to winning everything. […] I got a good result and, except for yesterday’s game, I think all the games were of good quality.

Second place in a super tournament at age 17, not a bad result! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Carlsen 0: 3 Aronian

The world champion was not very happy with his performance on the final day of action, as he was worse in the middle game and then went wrong in a rook finish to lose to Aronian. Carlsen tweeted:

Deservedly lost in the last round of Norway Chess today, which thankfully didn’t matter in terms of tournament ranking. There were certainly some positive moments, but most of all I felt quite clueless throughout the tournament.

He also mentioned although:

However, happy to get back to playing on board and classic, and a big thank you to the organizer for making it possible and safe for us. I don’t know when I will play a classic tournament again, but I will be eagerly awaiting the opportunity and trying to improve.

In the game, Aronian was better at all times, as Carlsen’s plan to expand on the kingside didn’t mean much in the middlegame. The decisive error occurred on move 49:

White needed to push his h-pawn all at once instead of losing the tempo with 50.Rxf6 here. Aronian just started to push his pins forward on the queenside, and White’s rook and king weren’t fast enough to stop them.

Will we see a handshake the next time we see them playing ‘live’? | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Firouzja 3: 0 Doubt

As Firouzja later explained, Duda seemed surprised by his 13.Nc2 outside the opening. Two moves later, Duda spent half an hour before settling on an unusual maneuver:

15 … Nh5, featuring a bishop, was described by Firouzja as “very strange”. From that point on, Duda had a hard time dealing with White’s initiative as his pieces were not fully developed. Also, the clock pressed him permanently after that long pause on move 15. A ruthless Firouzja won the game in 39 moves.

Alireza Firouzja vs. Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana 1½: 1 Tari

World No. 2 Caruana later explained that he felt he had a really good position after his trade sacrifice on move 20 in classic play:

20.Rxe6 fxe6 21.Bxh6 Rf7 22.Be3 and only then did Caruana realize that he was no better at all. The American explained: “It’s probably a draw on every line, but I’m definitely not better.” In fact, after 50 moves, the players agreed to a draw and took the showdown to Armageddon.

In the tiebreaker, Caruana managed to capture a minor piece with a rook on e6 again, but under very different circumstances:

White was already winning completely, with his d-pawn on the seventh rank and Black’s king irreversibly weakened. 35.Rxe6 Qxd1 + 36.Kh2 Kb1 37.Qxf7 + Rg7 38.Qf5 + and Tari resigned.

Deadlock: towards Armageddon! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Final ranking

one. Carlsen 19.5
two. Firouzja 18.5
3. Aronian 17.5
Four. Caruana 15.5
5. Doubt 9.5
6. Tari 3.5

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