Wei scores 7½ out of 9
After the first day of action at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Warsaw, Wei Yi finished in seventh place with 2/6 – he started the event with two draws and a loss (to Magnus Carlsen). Wei went 5½/6 in the remaining six rounds of the Rapid, with five straight wins in rounds 4-8. On Saturday, similar progress was made in the first half of the blitz section: Wei started the day with a loss, then went 7½/8 in the remaining rounds, with five straight wins in rounds 14-18!
Wei entered the Blitz section with a 1-point lead over Carlsen and now, going into the last nine rounds of the event, has extended the gap to 2½ points. R Pragnanandha, who has scored 14½ points so far, is 6 points off the leader, meaning he will need something close to a miracle to win the event.
Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2
Let’s learn together how to find the best position for the queen in the early midgame, how to get this piece on the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to trade, and much more!
moreover, As noted by Tarjei J. SvensenWei now holds the record for the highest score in a Grand Chess Tour event. Unsurprisingly, the record holder is Carlson, who scored a staggering 27/36 at the 2019 Tata Steel tournament in Kolkata. Wei would break that record with a 7/9 performance on Sunday.
Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen — two former world champions — share a laugh with their new World Championship opponent, 17-year-old D Gukes | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Carlsen’s uncharacteristic mistakes
Scoring 6/9 to stay in contention for the overall win certainly sounds like an acceptable performance in a tournament of this calibre. But Carlsen lives by a different standard, as he expressed his disappointment with his performance in an interview with Christian Cirilla on Saturday, noting that his nervous system “collapsed” after the Round 2 loss in Prague and describing his score as “half-decent”. .
Carlsen’s most frustrating moment of the day – and the one caught on camera – was his one-step mistake in the 3rd round against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Carlsen’s queen and knight tandem here is nothing short of excellent. White can maintain his winning advantage with a simple 51.Qxf5 or 51.Qe6+ because the knight on e5 controls several key squares and prevents Black from creating counterplay.
Instead, Carlsen made a crucial mistake 51.Qg6+Allows 51…Rg7, which immediately loses the queen. A resignation accompanied by a great emotional reaction followed.
Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1 – 9
In this video course, we will discuss various dynamic solutions related to pawnshops. The aim of this course is to arm club/tournament players with new ideas that they can apply to their practice.
In a pivotal matchup with Weiss, Carlsen built a big lead in the midgame – which he squandered in the next rock endgame.
Black is a raise, and White’s only source of counterplay is his far-advanced c-pawn. The natural 54…Rh8 wins here, preparing to give up the rook to the passer and then win with the f-pawn.
Carlsen chose instead 54…Rb1and balanced rose 55.c7 — After 55…Rxb4+ 56.Kc5 (diagram below) this is all in check for Black. A draw was agreed upon after ten moves, when all pieces except the kings had left the board.
The reigning Fast and Blitz World Champion still managed 4 wins and 1 draw in the remaining rounds of the day and he proved once again that he can come from behind to win outright – last year on 9/9 in Zagreb. His winning streak is a prime example of his ability when in good form.
Calculus Training – Step Up Your Game!
Calculus Training – Step Up Your Game! A total of 73 examples are selected, the vast majority of which contain multiple questions and more than 160 questions of varying difficulty.
Still in the fight for the tournament win — Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Expert analysis by IM Robert Rees
Standings after the 9th round
All games
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