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Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So tied the first day of the Skilling Open final 2: 2 after an incredible exchange of blows. Magnus seized the advantage and then finished the first game in brilliant style. It seemed to be his day when Wesley missed a big opportunity in the next game and was being tortured again, but suddenly Magnus fell into a mating net. The World Champion rallied to win Game 3, but Wesley had the last laugh in the final game of the day. The winner of $ 30,000 must be decided on Monday, when Magnus can wrap his own 30th birthday present.
You can replay all the Skilling Open knockout games using the selector below.
And here’s the live commentary of the day from Kaja Snare, Jovanka Houska, and David Howell, who were joined at one point by Anish Giri.
14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik was the surprise guest on the show with Tania Sachdev and Peter Leko.
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Game 1: Magnus is off to a good start
Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So are two of the toughest players to beat in world chess, and they have proven it at the Skilling Open as well. Both players had suffered just three defeats to reach the final, despite playing more than 30 matches each. A very balanced final seemed likely, and that’s how the first game started, with queens exchanged on move 8 and the slightest advantage for Magnus, who had White.
On move 23 Wesley could have played 23… Rc1 !, which our commentators felt would be a certain draw, but even after 23… Rc7 !? the game still looked complicated. Magnus was digging deep, however, and 31 … a4 allowed him to create a critical situation on the board.
After 32.g5 +! Kxg5 33.Rxb5 +! Wesley was later surprised to realize that 33 … Kf6 !, and a potential pawn ending that could come by force, was just a draw. Instead he played 33… Rf5?, which turned out to be losing by force after 34.Rxb4. Both players got the queen of their pawns and, at a glance, he might have thought it was just a draw, but Magnus saw the victory.
40.Qf4 +! g5 (Provoking this move is vital to render the h5 rook defenseless) 41.Qd6 +! Qg6 42.Qf8 +! Qg7 43.Rxh5 +! Y Wesley resigned. 43… Kg6 would meet 44.Rxg5 +! and the black queen is lost. Even Wesley seemed to enjoy what had been an elegant finish.
Game 2: Wesley reaches the end
Vladimir Kramnik joined Peter and Tania for Game 2, and talked about how we tend to overestimate how big the difference is between Magnus and the other top players … although he added a caveat!
Even if Magnus is the best player in the world, the difference with Wesley So is not that great. Anything can happen in a match! I wouldn’t say you have more than a 55% chance. He is always 55/60% against the best players, but reaches 100 at the end of the day. That’s the miracle of Magnus!
The way this game was developed seemed, to the end, to support that thesis. So he got such a good position in the opening that Kramnik felt he had the pawn and the compensation, and Wesley did everything right after that, until move 36.
The winning move was 36.Bd3 !, and although Wesley said he was “still not sure exactly why” after briefly looking at it with the computer, the main idea is clear. White’s e5 would be mate-on-1, and if Black blocks with 36… e5, then 37.Bc4 threatens mate again. 36… Qd1 would become 37.Qxd6.
In the game, however, Wesley played 36.e5? immediately, when the only movement 36… Qd1! it removed the bishop’s d3 square, as well as potentially supporting the c-pawn’s queen. Suddenly Wesley had nothing but a tie for perpetual check, but he kept playing, ultimately giving Magnus a chance to win. The best summary of the extended play sequence that followed perhaps came from Kramnik: “I think they are both trying to lose, but it will probably be a draw in the end!”
The tie seemed inevitable after 88… Qd6:
Wesley could have simply traded queens, but decided to write one more check, 89.Qe3 +, which viewer Anish Giri described as “nonsensical”. Most of the responses attract, but as Wesley commented, “Magnus was generous enough to play 89… Kf8 ?? and collide with a lucky checkmate! ”
As Anish said, “victories feel good, but lucky victories feel even better.”
Game 3: Magnus recovers
It had been a heavy blow to Magnus, but he managed to get straight back to business in the next game, catching Wesley in the opening and then going for the sassy 11.g4 !?
Wesley called it “a fantastic move,” while his response 11 … g5 ?!
was already a mistake after Magnus calmly replied with 12.Bg3! Wesley felt he was totally outmatched in what followed, which was perhaps a fair assessment, although computers also point to some moments when Black could have returned to the game. However, as Kramnik pointed out:
The most important thing is to play better than your opponent, that’s enough. You don’t need more than that, you don’t need to play perfect chess, it just has to be a little better than your opponent’s chess!
Magnus had taken a 2: 1 lead and needed only a draw to win the mini-match.
That seemed like a tough question for Wesley, given that he was up against a player who has been the undisputed king of chess for a decade and that Vladimir Kramnik believes only a player from a younger generation can topple.
Game 4: All squares before the birthday decision
Once again, however, the opening went in favor of White, with the sideline 9.Qf3 a6 10.Qa3! seeming to catch Magnus off guard. 11.Bg5! it was already posing serious problems.
The ugly 11… f6 might be the best, but Magnus opted for the daring concept of 11… Be7 !? 12.Bxe7 Kxe7. It seemed risky, but the subsequent game seemed to justify the choice of the World Champion until he played loose. 29… Bf5 !?.
Wesley ran into that with 30.Rh5, a strange looking move that left Kramnik and Leko pondering how chess had changed.
However, there are no good answers and after 30… Qc8 31.Qxb6! Ng4? Wesley struck with the devastating 32.Ba6!, after which a furious Magnus knew he was lost.
Black can no longer defend the bishop on f5 as 32 … Qd7 meets 33.Bb5 !, while in the game Magnus went for 32… Re1 + 33.Ka2 Qe8 34.Rxf5
and resigned one play later, one piece less.
Magnus had previously told Kaja Snare:
What happens after losing a game is that I break things, and then I use the next hour to put these things together again!
Whether Magnus was slowly repairing the damage or not, Wesley was busy talking about how surprised he was to have drawn blood on the first day of the final:
Very surprised, because my goal in this match is to make it interesting, to try to put up a good fight, at least, because Magnus is really the best player and he is the best player in the world right now, so just to compete with him is a very good feeling, and he’s better than me in every aspect of the game. So I had to do my best or hope to catch him on a bad day. I think today was a bit of a bad day for him. I don’t think he lost any games in the semi-finals. [he lost one to Nepo] or the quarterfinals, so beating him twice today is very special.
The 2: 2 draw means we are all tied again heading into the final and decisive day of the Skilling Open on Monday, which is also Magnus Carlsen’s 30th birthday.
The only way we can now get tiebreaks is if Monday’s mini-match ends 2: 2, in which case we’ll have two blitzkriegs and then potentially Armageddon to decide the fate of the $ 30,000 jackpot and the 40 points of the game. Champions Chess Tour. . The runner-up gets $ 15,000 and 20 points.
Tune in for the last day’s action from 17:45 CET / 11:45 ET right here on chess24!
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