The Champions Chess Tour Starts Today
It's the Airthings Masters, with Carlsen, So, Firouzja(!), and Nakamura headlining.
It’s an eight-player double elimination event, with the day’s action consisting of 4-game matches with a 15’+3” time control. The action starts at 11 a.m. ET/17:00 CET, and today’s matches are as follows:
Carlsen (2839) - Sarana (2643)
Firouzja (2745) - Erigaisi (2685)
So (2780) - Mamedov (2632)
Gukesh (2629) - Nakamura (2750)
It will be nice to see Firouzja in action again - he has been largely absent from big-time chess since last year’s Candidates.
There is more to say about the format and the play-in to this stage - but later. For now, let’s enjoy the day’s action, which starts in a little less than an hour and a half.