Of course, the division we’re most interested in, unless we’re one of the players in Division 2 or 3 or one of their friends, is Division 1. But just in case some of you, a bit like me over the last few days, wanted to find out who won by watching the video coverage each day and that’s still on your to-do list, I kept the answer out of the headers.
The answer is, as usual, the world’s #1 player: Magnus Carlsen. It wasn’t easy, though, as he needed Armageddon against Vladimir Fedoseev, had a serious challenge from Denis Lazavik, and needed two matches against Alireza Firouzja to finish him off - losing the first one.
The tournament merits a fuller post, but for now I’ll just cover the last day’s action, the two “final” matches against Alireza Firouzja. While the Chessable Masters’ format is more involved than in previous years, the double elimination format will be familiar to those who have followed the tour last year. Carlsen remained in the winners’ bracket throughout, defeating Wesley So 2.5-1.5, Fedoseev 3-2 (winning the Armageddon game), and Lazavik 2.5-1.5 to reach the final.
His opponent in that final was Firouzja, who lost to Fedoseev 2.5-1.5 in his initial match to fall to the losers’ bracket. That was the end of his losing for a long time, however, as he defeated So 1.5-0.5 (losers’ bracket matches were best-of-2), Jose Martinez 1.5-0.5, Nepomniachtchi 2-1 (winning an Armageddon game), and Lazavik 1.5-0.5.
That meant a return to the winners’ bracket, and therefore a 4-game match with Carlsen. The first game was extraordinary, a tactically crazy game that was just about perfectly played until a Carlsen error very near the end, largely the result of an ill-advised winning attempt in a messy position in which neither player had much time to think. Firouzja won the second game as well, outplaying Carlsen to take a commanding 2-0 lead. Carlsen won game 3, but an oversight in game 4 allowed Firouzja to escape a computer-equal but unpleasant position to make an immediate draw, bringing an end to the first match.
Now with both players having lost a match, the final match went to the losers’ bracket format: a best-of-two game contest. With Black Firouzja went all out for an attack, but after some wily defensive play from Carlsen Firouzja slammed on the brakes, went passive, and was soon lost. Amazingly, he very nearly managed to slip out, but between his time trouble and some neat tactics by Carlsen he finally went down to defeat. Firouzja therefore needed to win on demand in game two, and he almost did it. He was in charge much of the way, and the match seemed headed for an Armageddon game. That would have been a wonderful way for things to have been decided - at least for Firouzja and the fans. Carlsen was having none of it, and a desperate bid for counterplay worked to perfection. First he managed to equalize, and after a further, final error by Firouzja Carlsen even managed to win.
The rest of the world seems to be getting closer to Carlsen, and to be less afraid of him than previous generations. For now, though, he’s still winning almost every tournament he plays in. Next up: the big Chess960 event in Berlin, which starts on February 9 - tomorrow, for just about everyone who is receiving this.
Here are the games from the two Carlsen-Firouzja matches (with my notes to the first game); more from the event soon, I hope.