source: chess.com
Greetings to all chess fans! For the first time, chess was included in the Esports World Cup and here, the world's best chess player found a new ground to conquer. Magnus Carlsen beat rivals Hikaru Nakamura in the semifinals and Alireza Firouzja in the finals to be crowned the first champion of the Chess Esports World Cup. Carlsen is in top form as he hasn't lost a single game prior to his semifinals match with Hikaru Nakamura.
Semifinal Match
source: chess.com
The semifinals match was considered by some as the more interesting match which saw Carlsen against the world's second best speed chess player and crowd favorite, Hikaru Nakamura.
In the following game, Carlsen made a mistake and got his Queen trapped in a6.
Hikaru easily saw the winning combination after 34. Kd3 Bc8! Qa7 Ra8! and the Queen has nowhere to go.
The crowd cheered when Hikaru won and in the next game, Carlsen had the winning position.
https://lichess.org/broadcast/esports-world-cup-2025--playoffs/semifinals/XcuEh2bt/oxA7vXf2
After 34. ...a4 Magnus is winning. There is no stopping the pawn from promoting. Magnus looks at the crowd and made a shushing motion.
source: chess.com
He admitted that he was pissed at the crowd for cheering when he lost.
"It pissed me off when they cheered when Hikaru was winning!"
The match was eventually decided by an armageddon game. In armageddon, White will have more time but will have to win while Black needs only a draw to win. Hikaru bid for six minutes to play as Black against White's ten minutes. In the game, Hikaru made a crucial mistake Ba4. In a puzzle like position, Carlsen easily found the winning tactic.
Can you spot the winning move?
After 33. Qb1 White threatens to capture Black's rook on a7 and win Black's Queen with 34. Rb8. Black cannot defend against both threats and lost his Rook.
https://lichess.org/broadcast/esports-world-cup-2025--playoffs/semifinals/XcuEh2bt/YK7Vbtg7
The Finals
source: fide.com
Alireza Firouzja who is also known as a speed demon looks to be out of form as he was always behind in the clock by a wide margin throughout the match. In the following game, he got his Rook trapped in an unusual position.
After 22. ...Rxb8 23. Qxb8 Black cannot capture the Queen because next move will be mate. Carlsen had no problems converting this to a win.
https://lichess.org/broadcast/esports-world-cup-2025--playoffs/finals--set-1/vZOR5cbg/r1ftGy1J
In the following game, Carlsen already had a winning position. Alireza with 31 seconds left in his clock, blundered his Queen with 39. Qd2 Nf3+
https://lichess.org/broadcast/esports-world-cup-2025--playoffs/finals--set-2/uiSRGIzq/4nSR0NQl
Magnus was crowned the champion and took the $250,000 first prize.
source: fide.com
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