World number-one Magnus Carlsen posted an incredible 10-game winning streak to overhaul GM Wei Yi and win the 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland despite starting the day 2.5 points behind. Carlsen caught Wei by beating him in the fourth round of the day. His rival didn’t crack, but couldn’t keep up the pace as he had to settle for second place, a full six points ahead of third-placed local hero GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
This is a flash report — the full report will follow later!
In the end the winning margin was half a point, with Carlsen making the draw he needed in the final round against GM Arjun Erigaisi.
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland Final Standings
Making up a 2.5-point gap in nine rounds is a huge challenge, but Carlsen revealed he felt good — and that he’d been there before.
“I knew if I had a good day I had a chance and I could feel from the second game on that I was a lot calmer than I was yesterday. So I thought that I was in with a shot. I also knew that I’ve done this before, in the World Blitz in 2017, I came in 2.5 points behind Karjakin and I erased that in four games, beating him in the fourth game, so funnily it was exactly the same this time. I felt very calm today.”
I felt very calm today.
—Magnus Carlsen
The round-four win over Wei was of course crucial, and was typical of Carlsen’s play all day—he played fast and well, sometimes missing nuances but creating enough chances that eventually his opponent crumbled.
The final stages as Magnus Carlsen wins the showdown against Wei Yi! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/iKtupu0tPQ
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 12, 2024
There was still a lot of work to do, but Carlsen would go on to achieve the feat of beating all nine players in the tournament in a row, something he’d done, that time in a single day, in Zagreb in 2023.
The final stages as Magnus Carlsen wins the showdown against Wei Yi! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/iKtupu0tPQ
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 12, 2024
Back then Carlsen made it 11 wins in a row, while this time it was 10 after a final win over World Championship Challenger GM Gukesh Dommaraju. Two draws in the last two rounds was enough to clinch victory and $40,000. As a wildcard, there were no Grand Chess Tour points for Carlsen.
Come back later for the full report.
The 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland is the first event on the 2024 Grand Chess Tour and runs May 8-12 in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. The 10 players first compete in a single rapid round-robin with a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, followed by a blitz double round-robin with a 5+2 time control.
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