Maximus Magnus Carlsen wins ten in-a-row to become a clear champion at Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2024
Magnus Carlsen won ten games in-a-row to win Grand Chess Tour Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2024. He scored 26/36, finished a half point ahead of Wei Yi (CHN). Despite being 2.5 points ahead of Carlsen, he scored 1.5/2 in the first two games, then he lost to Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL). Immediately in the followed round Magnus defeated him to join him in the lead. The world no.1 scored another hat-trick to increase his win streak to ten games. He drew the last two games against Anish Giri (NED) and Arjun Erigaisi to become a clear champion. Duda finished third scoring 19.5/36. R Praggnanandhaa scored a crucial victory against Wei in the penultimate round. He scored 19/36 to finish fourth. Arjun fifth 18/36. Photos: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
"...I have done this before"
"...obviously I knew if I had a good day, I had a good chance. I could feel from the second game on, that I was a lot calmer than I was yesterday. So I thought I was in with a shot. I also knew that I have done this before in the World Blitz 2017. I came in 2.5 points behind Karjakin. I erased that in four games, beating him in the fourth game. So finally it was exactly the same this time... It was an incredible performance by Wei Yi. I had so many moments both yesterday and today where I win my game and then I look over, oh he won. I am not any closer. He had a performance that you win with every single time." - Magnus Carlsen at the closing ceremony.
Round 10: Wei, Magnus and Arjun make a winning start
Wei Yi (CHN, 2758) started the day with a win over D Gukesh (2649). Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2828) crushed Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2622) in 23 moves.
R Praggnanandhaa (2704) missed multiple opportunities in the endgame against Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL, 2748).
Arjun Erigaisi (2671) made a short work of Anish Giri (NED, 2687) in just 28 moves.
Round 11: Magnus avenges his loss, reduces the gap as Wei makes a big save against Keymer
D Gukesh bounced back with a win over Arjun Erigaisi.
Magnus Carlsen avenged his previous day loss against R Praggnanandhaa
Round 12: Duda beats Wei, assists Magnus
Jan-Krzysztof Duda handed Wei Yi his first loss of the day and the round before he faced Magnus Carlsen.
Magnus scored a fine victory over Abdusattorov to reduce the gap between him and Wei to a one point.
Praggnanandhaa stumbled his way towards the finish line en route his win over Anish Giri.
Round 13: Magnus beats Wei, catches up with him
Magnus Carlsen scored a crucial victory over Wei Yi to level the score with him.
Arjun Erigaisi played the major piece endgame beautifully to beat his good friend, R Praggnanandhaa.
Round 15: Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh again in Blitz
R Praggnanandhaa defeated D Gukesh for the second time in their Blitz encounters at this event.
Gukesh - Carlsen, Round 16
Gukesh might have struggled in Blitz as this format is not his forte. However, you must not skip his 15.Rxg6! in Round 16. Taking the rook is out of the question as 15...fxg6 16.Bxg6+ Ke7 17.f5 and Black loses the queen to prevent Bg5#. 15...Nc4 16.Qg2? Ndxe5 Black managed to get back in the game and eventually win.
Round 17: Praggnanandhaa beats Wei from a losing endgame
Praggnanandhaa was lost in the endgame against Wei Yi. However, he kept finding resources to continue the fight and eventually managed to beat his opponent.
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Schedule and Format
Superbet Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 8th to 10 May. The Blitz event will take place on 11th and 12th May. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment.
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000, first prize US$ 40000.
Replay Blitz Round 10-18 games
Final standings after Blitz Round 18
