The $100,000 Goldmoney Asian Rapid got off to a fast start today – but not for World Champion Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian suffered a disappointing first-game loss after the exciting teen star Alireza Firouzja threw caution to the wind in the opener and won.
Carlsen always recovers, however, and scored his first win in the very next round with a trademark endgame powerplay against Hou Yifan, the world’s top female player.
After another draw and a win, the champ scored a win against Salem Saleh, the first UAE player to compete on the Tour. Carlsen ended the day on 3.5/5 and in a five-way tie for the lead.
Carlsen is going for a hat-trick of wins in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour as the online chess season’s seventh leg begins.
He said after that he’s aiming for a “better way” into the knockout stage than he managed in the last event, the FTX Crypto Cup, when he nearly crashed out early.
Carlsen added: “This was a very decent start. I’m never really hard on myself in these first days because I’m never really in top gear.”
Joining Carlsen on 3.5/5 is China’s Ding Liren, who made the early running, Levon Aronian, and the two Russians Vladislav Artemiev and Daniil Dubov.
Ding, nicknamed the “Chinese Wall”, is benefitting from this tournament’s earlier start time after having previously had to play into the early hours of the morning because of his timezone.
Of the four Indians taking part, the youngster Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi lead on 2.5/5 with Gukesh D and B Adhiban both struggling – despite displaying some fiery chess – on 1/5.
Today’s performance puts the leaders in a solid position to make the cut on day three when the field is halved and eight of the 16 players drop off.
The Goldmoney Asian Rapid is broadcast live on Norwegian TV station TV 2 and streamed with commentary in several languages on chess24’s YouTube and Twitch channels.
Highlights will also be available in 60 countries on the Eurosport app.
Play begins tomorrow at 13:00 CEST. All games will be played on the chess24.com playzone.
The full line-up:
- Magnus Carlsen – #1 Tour Standings
- Wesley So – #2 Tour Standings
- Anish Giri – #4 Tour Standings
- Levon Aronian – #7 Tour Standings
- Alireza Firouzja – Wildcard / #12 Tour Standings
- Vidit Gujrathi – Wildcard
- Ding Liren – Wildcard
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Wildcard
- Vladislav Artemiev – New Invite / Wildcard
- Saleh Salem – New Invite / Wildcard
- Hou Yifan – New Invite / Wildcard
- Arjun Erigaisi – Indian Qualifier
- Adhiban Baskaran – Indian Qualifier
- Gukesh D – Gelfand Challenge
- Daniil Dubov – Premium Vote
- Peter Svidler – Premium Vote
For further information, please contact:
Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Group
leon@chessable.com
+44 7786 078 770