Magnus Carlsen had one of the worst runs of his career in Hong Kong, losing four games in a row to grandmasters from India, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The world No 1 leads WR Chess, the pre-tournament favourites, but the team faced early setbacks.
Asian teams shine in Hong Kong
The €500,000 tournament has attracted several strong national teams, plus the favourites, WR Chess, led by Carlsen. Dragon Chilling, a relatively unknown Chinese squad, won the gold medals at the World Teams Rapid in Hong Kong. Teams of six include a woman, a junior and an amateur who has never achieved a 2000 rating. The strong performance by Asian teams at the start highlights a boom in chess, with enthusiasm sparked by successive world champions from China (Ding Liren) and India (Gukesh Dommaraju).
Time controls and tournament format
The time control for rapid is 15 minutes for the whole game, plus a 10 seconds per move increment from move one; while for blitz it is three minutes plus a two seconds per move increment. There is no repeat of the attempt in London last year to play without increment, which caused chaotic conclusions to several games.
Carlsen's struggles
Carlsen had one of the worst runs of his career, losing four games in a row. In round six, Carlsen lost to MGD1’s Arjun Erigaisi, as India’s world No 8 demolished the No 1 as Black by a raging attack culminating in a queen sacrifice. In round seven, Carlsen was beaten by the 24-year-old Armenia Shant Sargsyan. The Norwegian sat out round eight, but then had a painful defeat against Javokhir Sindarov, the Uzbek Candidates winner who some believe will be the next No 1. Finally, in round 10, Carlsen lost to Aydin Suleymanli, a 21-year-old GM from Azerbaijan. Carlsen understandably sat out rounds 11 and 12.
Other highlights
England’s only representative at the championships appears to be the former world title challenger Nigel Short, now 61, whose team is Qatar but contains several other Fide officials. Short began with 5/8 and a 2540 performance rating, showing that he retains his skills. Dragon Chilling, MGD1 and Hexamind (led by Alireza Firouzja) tied for first with 18/24, the Chinese team taking the gold medals on the tie-break.
Live commentary by England’s Olympiad gold medallist David Howell is at fide.com, starting about 7.15 am BST on Friday (rapid), Saturday and Sunday (blitz).
Before Wednesday’s start, WR Chess won a battle of rival press conferences. While the official edition offered only the Fide president, Arkady Dvorkovich, plus two GMs in support, the WR podium fielded Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, special guest Javokhir Sindarov and even a former prime minister, Mongolia’s Zandanshatar Gombojav, who was announced alongside WR’s founder and sponsor, Wadim Rosenstein, for the U2000 amateur board. After drawing his round one game, Gombojav was beaten in round seven.
Niemann vs Nepomniachtchi feud continues
A new chapter has been added to the Hans Niemann v Ian Nepomniachtchi feud reported this month. The American and the Russian, whose 4-4 tie in their match in Belgrade was followed by a dispute about the prize fund, were paired again at the UzChess Cup in Tashkent, where Nepo finished third out of 10 with 5/9 and Niemann seventh with 4/9 in a round robin won by the local GM Mukhiddin Madaminov. At the pre-event technical meeting, Nepo shook hands with all the players bar Niemann and said: “He has to learn how to behave.” Nepo won their eighth round game, using some leftover prep in the Ruy Lopez a4 anti-Marshall he had hoped to unleash during his 2021 world title defeat by Carlsen. They reached a knight ending where Nepo was able to sacrifice his knight for united passed pawns and threats on both flanks. Objectively, though, the pair remain closely matched, with both in the lower half of the world top 20. Niemann has his own team, named Endgame AI, in the World Team Rapid/Blitz, which he began by winning his first four games on top board, all of them against grandmasters, then drawing four against elite opponents including Sindarov, and former world champion Ding.
Puzzle solution
4029: 1 Rf1! Rd8 2 Qxd3! wins a piece and the game. If 2…Rxd3?? 3 Rf8 mate. Not 1 exd5?? Qf2+ and Black draws by perpetual check.
