Carlsen once again asserted his dominance by defeating World Champion Gukesh - Photo: chess.com
World number one Magnus Carlsen reaffirmed his top status by winning both games against young talent Gukesh Dommaraju on the penultimate day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown super tournament. Despite leading the group, the Norwegian chess king was not entirely satisfied with his performance.
On the tense day of October 28th, Carlsen displayed a devastating performance, winning all four games against Gukesh and world number 2 Hikaru Nakamura.
Although he subsequently lost two consecutive sets to Fabiano Caruana, Carlsen still managed to climb to the top of the leaderboard with 11.5 points, one point ahead of Caruana (10.5 points) before the final day of competition.
Carlsen is currently leading before the final round - Photo: chess.com
However, Carlsen was critical of himself. He shared: "I wish I had better control of the games. But I have to accept this result nonetheless."
Both of Carlsen's victories against Gukesh followed the same pattern: he gained a small advantage at the end of the middle game and converted it into a win in the endgame.
In the first game, Carlsen capitalized on his advantage of having two bishops over his opponent's bishops and knights. The World Champion called this "the only good game I've played in this tournament."
In the second game, he won thanks to a one-pawn advantage, even though he had to accept a position with a stacked pawn.
Carlsen pointed out Gukesh's fatal mistake in the first game: the move 27.e5?. Gukesh, with regret, admitted it was "an impulsive move." And he should have been more patient with ...h5 first. Carlsen punished this mistake with "surgical" precision and successfully transformed a perfect endgame with two bishops.
Carlsen (in white) capitalized on Gukesh's mistake with his e5 pawn move - Photo: screenshot
In contrast to Carlsen, Gukesh had a forgettable day, scoring only 3 out of a possible 12 points. The 19-year-old not only lost his top spot after two days of competition but also dropped to the bottom of the leaderboard, tied with Hikaru Nakamura with 7 points each. The Indian player stated that he will try to forget this disappointing performance.
The final day, starting at 0:00 on Thursday, October 30th (Vietnam time), promises to be full of drama thanks to its unique scoring system: Specifically, on the first day, a win earns 1 point. On the second day, a win earns 2 points. And on the final day, a win earns 3 points, and a draw earns 1 point.
With a win providing a huge point advantage (3 points), a complete reversal of fortune is entirely possible. In fact, winning one and losing one game would be more advantageous than two draws. The race for the championship will undoubtedly last until the very last moments.
The tournament brings together the world's top four players (Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana, and Gukesh) with a total prize pool of $412,000, competing in rapid chess (10 minutes + 5 seconds) in a round-robin format of six rounds.
TUAN LONG
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/carlsen-thi-uy-suc-manh-truc-vua-co-gukesh-20251029111002612.htm
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