World No 1 Magnus Carlsen was the oldest player in the 10-player field at Poland and had said before the event began that he hoped to “teach the others a thing or two”. He did just that.
Magnus Carlsen entered the Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland event on Sunday facing an almost improbable task: he was trailing Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi by 2.5 points with just nine rounds left. But Carlsen went on an incredible streak: defeating all the nine other players (including the three Indian prodigies) competing at the Warsaw event in a row to emerge victorious by half a point. The World No 1’s run to the title was spurred by a 10-game winning streak.
Carlsen was the oldest player in the 10-player field at Poland and had said before the event began that he hoped to “teach the others a thing or two”. The event had three Indian prodigies — World Chess Championship challenger D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi — besides a host of top grandmasters like Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer. But that mattered little as Carlsen went on to secure victory.
While Praggnanandhaa (19 points) was fourth and Erigaisi (18 points) was fifth, Gukesh (12.5 points) ended in last spot.
Carlsen will take home a cool winner’s cheque of $40,000 for winning the Poland event.
Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland final standings
Final standings of #SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland #grandchesstour! pic.twitter.com/P0MeeIQanD
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) May 12, 2024
Carlsen says he felt calmer on Sunday
“I just fight hard,” Carlsen told the official social media handle of Grand Chess Tour after his win.
Magnus Carlsen with the trophy after winning the 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour/Lennart Ootes)
“I knew that if I had a good day today that I had a chance (to win). I could feel from the second game (on Sunday) onwards that I was a lot calmer than I was yesterday. So I felt I was in with a shot. I also knew that I have done this before in 2017 at the World Blitz, when I came in 2.5 points behind Sergey Karjakin and I erased that deficit in four games, beating him in the fourth game. It was exactly the same today. felt very calm today,” Carlsen admitted.
Carlsen also complimented China’s Wei Yi for pushing him hard. The Chinese GM was in the lead in the standings after Saturday’s games.
“There were so many times when I would win and see that he had won too, so I was not closer to leading the event’s standings. He had a performance that you win with every single time,” Carlsen said.
Source:indianexpress.com