The world champion had to fight back from the brink on five different occasions in the tournament but found his mojo at the best possible time to take down longtime nemesis Wesley So in the grand final of the FTX Crypto Cup.
Carlsen the comeback king
Fresh from his win at New in Chess Classic, the world champion had a torrid time in the preliminary portion of this stacked tournament, barely making it to the playoffs. He was immediately pitted against Hikaru Nakamura, the American he bested in the grand finals the last time around, trading blows with him on the first day of the quarterfinals where all four matches were won by the player with White. Though he lost the first game on day 2 with White, he struck back the next game to steer the series to a tiebreak that he’d win comfortably.
Carlsen went on to face Teimour Radjabov in the semis, his opponent from the quarterfinals of the New in Chess Classic event. This time, we had way more than just the one decisive outcome, with Carlsen’s game 3 win immediately matched by his opponent from Azerbaijan. He only had twelve words to offer in his post-match interview: “I blundered and he played well. Thank you and see you tomorrow!”
Day 2 of the semifinals began with Carlsen on the back foot but Radjabov failed to convert his advantage as White, stumbling into a critical defeat. A quick draw followed, then the world champion then managed to hold an otherwise lost rook endgame, which meant that he only needed a draw with the White pieces to secure a spot in the final against Wesley So. As it so often happens in these cases, Radjabov overreached and lost fairly quickly, which meant that Carlsen has reached his fourth final in the Meltwater Champions Tour out of the six events played so far.
“It’s been awfully tense. I can’t say that my play is flowing great, but I’m in the finals and that’s the most important thing!”
Magnus Carlsen on his semifinal victory
So close yet so far
Wesley So was on fire going into the grand finals of the FTX Crypto Cup, going 29 games unbeaten during the tournament as he geared up to face Carlsen for the third time in a cup decider, already having two such wins to his name against the world champion.
Despite successfully springing a trap in the opening and gaining a significant lead on the clock, he dropped his lead against Carlsen and ended up losing the first game in the series with the White pieces. However, he managed to strike back at the second time of asking after drawing with Black in game 2, and the world champion quickly steered things to draw to close out the day on account of feeling unwell.
The final day of the FTX Crypto Cup turned out to be the most dramatic of all as the players traded wins with White to start out, then fought to a draw in game 3. To even Carlsen’s surprise, So decided to take a draw with the White pieces in game 4 to go for the blitz tiebreakers.
This decision seemed to be a masterstroke after the American successfully pulled off a tactical trick to win the first blitz game with Black, forcing Carlsen to win the follow-up under the same conditions to keep the fight alive. For the fifth time in the tournament, the world champion did just that, exerting so much pressure on So’s position that it seemed inevitable he’d crack despite the innate advantage of going first.
This meant that it all came down to an Armageddon game where the player with the White pieces has five minutes on the clock to Black’s four but has to win in order to secure a victory. So chose the Black side for the momentous occasion but Carlsen tore him apart in the Giuoco Pianissimo, securing a decisive lead in just twenty moves which he converted soon thereafter to win the FTX Crypto Cup and secure himself a spot in the finals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour in September. The next event in the series will run from June 26 to July 4.
