2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

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Chris Rice
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2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:25 pm

Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Hikaru Nakamura and Daniil Dubov begin battle this Sunday for the highest ever prize in online chess. The best of five sets semi-finals of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour see Carlsen take on Ding Liren while Nakamura plays Dubov, before the winners compete in a best of seven sets final for the $140,000 top prize and a total prize fund for this tournament alone of $300,000.
Chess 24 article

Mick Norris
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Mick Norris » Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:39 pm

TWIC
Summary Day 1 Ding took the lead after he got the draw he needed in a final Armageddon tie-break vs Carlsen. Nakamura beat Dubov 3.5-2.5 by winning the second blitz game - only the first blitz game was draw the rest of the games were decisive.

The second of up to five sets will be played on Monday at 3pm UK time.
Any postings on here represent my personal views

David Robertson

Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by David Robertson » Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:24 pm

Today's 2nd sets were very one-sided affairs. Nakamura crushed Dubov 3-1, and puts him one set short of the Final. Meanwhile in the other match, Carlsen swept Ding Liren off the board. It would have been 3-0, but Carlsen sealed the set with a generous half. That leaves matters all-square after a turbulent day yesterday when, if I understand things correctly, Carlsen suffered two disconnections

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Fri Aug 14, 2020 7:00 pm

Nakamura beat Carlsen 2.5-1.5 in the first set of the best of 7. Nakamura looks really prepared for this and seems to have grown as a player since the pandemic started.

Mick Norris
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Mick Norris » Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:41 am

TWIC report on day 1

Carlsen, Magnus vs Nakamura, Hikaru
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Aug 15, 2020 3:45 pm

Carlsen loses the first game of the second set. Nakamura's prep seems to be better even though Carlsen was bashing out his moves. Suddenly Carlsen took almost 10 minutes on one move and clearly things had gone wrong.

Martin Benjamin
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Martin Benjamin » Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:06 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 3:45 pm
Carlsen loses the first game of the second set. Nakamura's prep seems to be better even though Carlsen was bashing out his moves. Suddenly Carlsen took almost 10 minutes on one move and clearly things had gone wrong.
Good game to watch once they were out of computer preparation. Very impressive middlegame from Nakamura, and after an ingenious attempt by Carlsen to muddy the waters, Nakamura still had to find some moves (e.g. Kc6) which were far from easy to consider and make, especially in rapidplay

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:06 pm

Carlsen was pretty much lost in games 3 & 4 but Nakamura couldn't take advantage in Game 3 and played a careless move in Game 4 and Carlsen equalised and then won the Armageddon. One of the many things which are impressive about Carlsen is the way he can switch from desperately saving a lost game one moment to instantaneously going for the win when there seemed no chance of such a possibility happening.

Ian Thompson
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Ian Thompson » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:16 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:06 pm
Carlsen ... then won the Armageddon.
They didn't get to an Armageddon game. The rapidplay games were drawn 2-2 and Carlsen won the blitz games 1.5-0.5. Armageddon would have been next had the blitz games also been drawn.

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:29 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:16 pm
Chris Rice wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:06 pm
Carlsen ... then won the Armageddon.
They didn't get to an Armageddon game. The rapidplay games were drawn 2-2 and Carlsen won the blitz games 1.5-0.5. Armageddon would have been next had the blitz games also been drawn.
Thanks for correcting me. Tania Sachdev just kept repeating Armageddon while I was half watching the chess and trying to get the dinner ready so I just assumed. Mind you, the game that I thought was an Armageddon was a lovely finish by Carlsen attacking the rook on d7 and threatening mate on d1. Nakamura looked like he'd been punched in the stomach.

Mick Norris
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Mick Norris » Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:10 pm

TWIC final set 2 report

Nakamura, Hikaru vs Carlsen, Magnus
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Richard Bates
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Richard Bates » Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:59 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:06 pm
Carlsen was pretty much lost in games 3 & 4 but Nakamura couldn't take advantage in Game 3 and played a careless move in Game 4 and Carlsen equalised and then won the Armageddon. One of the many things which are impressive about Carlsen is the way he can switch from desperately saving a lost game one moment to instantaneously going for the win when there seemed no chance of such a possibility happening.
Didn't he lose game three and then play a known drawing line with white in game 4?

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sun Aug 16, 2020 12:31 am

Richard Bates wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:59 pm
Chris Rice wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:06 pm
Carlsen was pretty much lost in games 3 & 4 but Nakamura couldn't take advantage in Game 3 and played a careless move in Game 4 and Carlsen equalised and then won the Armageddon. One of the many things which are impressive about Carlsen is the way he can switch from desperately saving a lost game one moment to instantaneously going for the win when there seemed no chance of such a possibility happening.
Didn't he lose game three and then play a known drawing line with white in game 4?
Well yes, Nakamura did indeed lose Game 3 after he couldn't take advantage of his great position. 20...Bf7 seemed to be the turning point as it looked like Nakamura expected 21 Nxc6 Qxc6 22 Qxc6 bxc6 and missed 22 Qg4+ which you could tell by his reactions as he slapped the table. He also missed 38 Bxf6 later on, as did everybody else of course.

Carlsen, Magnus (NOR) - Nakamura, Hikaru (USA)

1-0

Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Kiva Finals 2020 round 28


I am finding it a little difficult to follow this new format so not sure what I was thinking about for game 4 so scratch that comment!

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:01 pm

Third set and Carlsen completely outplayed Nakamura in Game 1 followed by the players doing what they did yesterday when there was a decisive game and halving out in a handful of moves.

Chris Rice
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Re: 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

Post by Chris Rice » Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:49 pm

Absolute shocker for Carlsen in Game 3 and Nakamura equalises the score 1.5 1.5.

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