Magnus Carlsen dominates Julius Baer Generation Cup

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/09/2022

Magnus Carlsen took the least number of games to win the Finals of any Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event. He beat Arjun Erigaisi convincingly in two consecutive games which ended the second set immediately., There were no mathematical possibility left for Arjun to win the set any longer. The world champion was clearly not in a mood to dillydally. This was certainly a statement victory for him. Arjun Erigaisi should not feel sad about his loss as the world no.1 did not take him casually and gave him no chance. Both of them qualified to the next Major event which is slated to take place in San Francisco, CA in USA from 14th to 20th November 2022. Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Carlsen wins his fourth event of the season

Magnus Carlsen lost only one game in the Knockout stage against Levon Aronian in the Quarterfinals. Afterwards he did not lose a single game. He did not even need to play any tie-breaks in the KO stage which certainly speaks volumes about his mindset at this event. It is not just Arjun, there was absolutely no chance anyone had against the world champion. He was certainly more determined to win this event than any of the previous three. "There is a lot that I can say... No I am very happy. I sort of played very much throughout this match like anti-young player in the sense that, sort of tried to play a little bit kind of older you know, less theoretical lines that has some serious strategic complexity. It worked out pretty well. I feel like in the second game today, already from the opening I had a considerably better position. After that it was fairly straightforward position." - Magnus Carlsen on the Final games of this event. He added, "I do feel also today, Arjun can do a lot better than this and I am sure he will learn from playing a Wile E Coyote like me a few more times."

Julius Baer Generation Cup winner - Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

"I cannot say that 100%, but I haven't felt less motivated. Let's put it that way." - Magnus Carlsen on how motivated he felt during the ongoing situation with Hans Niemann. Regarding his statement on it, "Yeah we will say a little bit more, whether it will be tomorrow or one of the days after is not completely clear... I generally want cheating in chess to be dealt with seriously but yeah we will see what happens. I will certainly put out the statement very soon and that will also not be all you hear from me on that."

Julius Baer Generation Cup runner-up - Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Carlsen - Arjun Erigaisi: 2-0

Magnus Carlsen employed Pirc Defence once again against Arjun Erigaisi in the first game of the second set, just like he did in the very first encounter between them at this event.

Arjun - Carlsen, Game 1

Position after 22...b3

It was certainly not easy to defend this, especially against the world champion. 23.Nc3 was the correct way to defend it. 23... Nxc2 24.Bb5+ Kd8 25.Qxc5 Rxc5 26.axb3 and things would have been fine for White. However, 23.a4 was played in the game and things started spiraling out of control for White. 23...Qxc2+ 24.Qxc2 Nxc2 25.Bb5+ Kd8 26.Nc3 e6 and White was not allowed to get back for the rest of the game.

Benoni was probably not the best choice as Black in a must-score second game.

Carlsen - Arjun, Game 2

Position after 18...b5

19.axb5 axb5 20.Ra7 b4 21.Rxc7 bxc3 22.bxc3 and Black is just positionally lost. For the second straight game, Black just could not provide any resistance or launch any offense of his own.

One thing is for sure, it is certainly not about Arjun Erigaisi doing one or many things wrong, it is all about the world champion playing in his full strength. Vishy Anand's trainer GM Grzegorz Gajewski put it very nicely.

Interview with Magnus Carlsen after winning the Julius Baer Generation Cup | Video: chess24

Replay the live stream

Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup Final 2 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Final results

Magnus Carlsen won the Finals in a minimum number of games | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

All games started from 9:30 p.m. IST between 18th and 25th September 2022.

Tour standings

Magnus Carlsen leads the Tour with US$ 180000 earnings | Photo: chess24

Tour Schedule

Magnus Carlsen has won four out of seven tournaments in this season | Photo: chess24

Arjun Erigaisi has qualified for the next Major event which will take place at San Francisco, California in USA from 14th to 20th November | Photo: chess24