What a perfect way to spoil a birthday party!
GM Wesley So proved too savvy after dominating Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen in the blitz playoff, 1.5-0.5, of the Skilling Open final.
The Filipino-American chess player escaped a savage third round after a second-round bounceback at the hands of the top one grandmaster. Carlsen, who played the black side, was on the shotgun with a commanding game one lead until he lost composure and failed to eek a comeback win.
The 27-year-old So received $30,000 for his win, handing World No. 1 Carlsen a birthday loss in the first round of the $1.5 million Online Chess Tournament, scheduled to end until September 2021.
Carlsen, who had just turned 30 on the last day of November, stated that he chose to play in an unusual place after the match ended past midnight. He added that what he did was a blunder committed by a typical old man.
Earlier in a post-game interview, So apologized to Carlsen for destroying his birthday plans. The Filipino-American insisted that he got to do what keeps him happy, winning from time to time.
Carlsen set the world on fire after his world champion run seven years ago. The then 23-year-old chess master was slated to battle Vishy Anand twice to maintain his title. He emerged victorious over the former Indian world chess champion.
Stopping was not in his vocabulary as Carlsen outsmarted Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana in the latter days of November. He also retained his championship spot in 2016 and 2018.
Carlsen acknowledged So's triumph, stressing the word 'deserved' in his statement. He confessed that he is not in his best form when it comes to digital chess. The Norwegian prodigy looks forward to giving more time to training.
"Overall, it's deserved that Wesley won, and I have to be much, much better."
So, who sits at 2,741 points, was a force to be reckoned with after forcing Carlsen to commit many errors. Carlsen, however, was the first one to sail to perfection after fending off the Filipino-born player in the early stride.
When the two geniuses clashed, it was a guaranteed see-saw game for the viewers. The birthday celebrant could have put the final nail on his opponent's coffin if he recovered from So's blunder in the third game. The wins went on piling until it transformed into a six-game win-loss match.
Carlsen relied on the Caro-Kann opening thrice, punishing So through allowing unsuccessful captures. So committed blunders, adding insult to injury as Carlsen took his time to outpace the opponent.
The second game saw So took advantage of the situation from the Queen's Gambit. The game went wild as So and Carlsen hit a queen-less en route to several trade-offs.
Carlsen gained his momentum following a rook-and-pawn capture for two pawns. So tendered a vanishing set-up for Carlsen's fallout, as the Norwegian lost his pawns, which gifted So the elusive win.
Carlsen, who played his first tournament at the age of eight, currently enjoys a 2860 FIDE rating.
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