After three days of semifinals and a rest day, today (Thursday) we move on to the main event of this year’s first official Fischer Random Chess Championship. Three days of games to decide who will become the first Fischer champion (and who ends up grabbing the bronze). The format stays the same, but we got new matchups and more exciting chess positions. First let’s take a look at what happened in the semifinals.
Carlsen vs Caruana
In the semifinal with the world #1 and #2 facing off, we ended up with the Norwegian Carlsen advancing with a score of 12.5 vs 7.5 (no blitz was needed). However, it didn’t start off well as Carlsen with the white pieces went down in the first game and people already wondering if we were in for somewhat of a anticlimax.
The first position was in a way similar to the standard position with the rooks in their usual position, and with only one unguarded pawn (e2). Carlsen never really got going in this game and resigned after move 47 when the two pawns vs 1 on the queenside would be impossible to stop and the knight and the black king easily blocking whites pawns from promoting.
Carlsen bounced back in usual fashion in game 2, and we started to see a trend of black doing very well in this format. During the 8 slow rapid games played in the semifinals black had 4 wins to just 1 win for white.
Carlsen started day two excellent and took the lead in the match with Caruana being worse pretty much straight from the opening.
The position for game 3 and 4 felt a lot more chaotic, with both knights on the edge and very little symmetry to go by. The position also had these kinds of hidden traps where you can be pretty lost with the wrong move 1; the pawn on a7 is unguarded and with f3/f4 in move 1 you open up for the queen to take the pan and then threaten the unprotected rook on b8. Going down a whole rook after 3 moves is pretty unheard of, but of course neither of these players failed to spot such a trick. Carlsen also had winning changes in game 4, something that would put him in a very commanding lead, but Caruana managed to stabilize and scrap along with a draw.
The three began with what was described as fast rapid. Just 15 min and a 2 sec increment. The unusual timecontrol was something especially Carlsen struggled with in the first game of the day. Carlsen had clearly winning changes for most of the game, but in desperate time trouble he was unable to convert and had to settle for a draw.
The position for game 5 and 6 was again very unusual with potentially very strong bishop basically starting in fianchetto positions on a1 and h1.
The second time the players faced this starting position it seemed Carlsen had recalibrated and become more comfortable with the time format, and without much trouble defeated Caruana.
Facing a huge deficit, Caruana managed to claw back with a win in game 7, closing the gap but still looking like a very unlikely finalist.
Carlsen tried desperately to defend for most of the game, but was never able to stop Caruana’s clinical finish. However, Carlsen clinched the final ticket with a crushing win in game 8. Caruana played extremely ambitious, obviously believing he need to close the gape as much as possible before the blitz portion (going into 4 blitz game and trailing 3 points would seem hopeless). Carlsen stayed calm and guided the game into an endgame with unstoppable pawns and Caruana resigned after move 53.
Nepomniachtchi vs So
The other semifinal was more surprising with So crushingly dominate against the Russian star. Perhaps he underestimated So but Nepo never really had a chance in this match, basically resigned to his fate after losing in game 6. It started not half-bad, Nepo had an advantaged in game 1 and as usually played fast, but ended up squandering and having to settle for a draw. When he tried to push the attack in game 2 he went down and was clearly frustrated for most of the remaining match. So had a marvellous day two with two wins and a 9 vs 3 score going into the last day. While claiming he felt Nepo often got the better of him in the opening he remained calm and pounced when the Russian blundered or made the slightest of errors. Game 5 was especially notable as the arbiter stopped the game and claimed Nepo had wrongly performed the castling. The video clearly showed he touching the rook first. Blustered, the russian was clearly worse and frustrated but the players agreed to a draw. After the game Nepo claimed his move was not wrong as the rook was placed on the spot the king would be placed on and had simple moved the rook out of the way. In the end the players agreed to play game 5 again, but this also ended in a draw. The game itself was not decisive for the match, but a good picture of the different mental states of the two players. So finished of his opponent with a win in round 7.
The final: Carlsen vs So
So we have Carlsen facing So in the final. So has shown himself as a very strong fischer random player and will be a tough nut to crack for Carlsen, but looking at all their chess games Carlsen seems to have a psychological advantage. Carlsen has also shaken of any starting trouble (as seen in game 1) or problems with the unusual time control of the fast rapid (as seen in game 5). So however impressed the viewers in the semifinal and could very well snatch the title with perfect play. It will also be interesting to see even more “new” starting positions and how the players will handle them, as the semifinal was of very high chess quality with very few obvious mistakes from any of the four players. It’s hard not to pick Carlsen to take yet another world championship title, but with a strong start on Thursday So might just prove to be too tall a mountain to climb.
The bronze finale: Caruana vs Nepomniachtchi
Alongside Carlsen and So the semifinal losers are “forced” to play their bronze final. There is a $10 000 difference in prize money for 3rd vs 4th, but it will be interesting to see how the two players approached this mostly “pointless” match. Will Nepo care or is his mind already focusing on the final Grand Prix events and his chance to qualify for the Candidates? I predict Caruana to take the bronze.
Tabletop Cave 