Magnus Carlsen faced an almost impossible challenge when he arrived at the Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland event on Sunday: with nine rounds remaining, he was behind Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi by 2.5 points. However, Carlsen went on an amazing run, winning the Polish tournament by half a point after defeating the other nine players (including the three Indian prodigies). A 10-game winning streak for the World No. 1 helped fuel their journey to the championship.
In the 10-player field in Poland, Magnus Carlsen was the oldest player. Before the competition, he expressed his desire to “teach the others a thing or two.” Several elite grandmasters, including Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Vincent Keymer, were present at the event, along with three Indian prodigies: D Gukesh, who is a challenger for the World Chess Championship, Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi. However, it made little difference because Carlsen went on to win.
Gukesh (12.5 points) finished in last place, followed by Praggnanandhaa (19 points) in fourth place and Erigaisi (18 points) in fifth.
Carlsen’s winnings at the Poland event will come with a nice $40,000 winner’s cheque.
Sunday, Carlsen Claims, He Felt More at Ease.
After winning, Magnus Carlsen posted on the Grand Chess Tour’s official social media account, saying, “I just fight hard.”
“I knew I had a shot (to win) if I had a good day today. I was much more at ease than I had been yesterday, at least from the second game on Sunday. Thus, I believed I had a good chance. I also knew that I had previously done this at the 2017 World Blitz when I was behind Sergey Karjakin by 2.5 points at one point, but I defeated him in four games to win the fourth game. Today was the same. felt very at ease right now, Magnus Carlsen admitted.
Carlsen appreciated Wei Yi of China for exerting a lot of pressure on him. After the games on Saturday, the Chinese GM was ahead of the pack in the rankings.
“I wasn’t any closer to topping the event’s standings because there were a lot of situations when I would win and find that he had also won. Magnus Carlsen stated, “He gave a performance that you win every time.