Carlsen shows off his power against Chess King Gukesh

At the Clutch Chess super tournament, Magnus Carlsen showed his strength against young talent Gukesh, when he dominated and won both games.

Carlsen once again affirmed his position when defeating Chess King Gukesh - Photo: chess.com

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen has confirmed his position at the top by winning both games against young talent Gukesh Dommaraju on the penultimate day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown. Despite leading the group, the Norwegian chess master was not entirely satisfied with his performance.

During the tense competition day of October 28, Carlsen showed a destructive performance when he won all four games against Gukesh and world number 2 player Hikaru Nakamura.

Although he then lost two consecutive games to Fabiano Caruana, Carlsen still managed to climb to the top of the rankings with 11.5 points, one point ahead of Caruana (10.5 points) before the final day.

Carlsen temporarily took the lead before the final round - Photo: chess.com

However, Carlsen was strict with himself. He shared: "I wanted to control the games better. But anyway, I still have to accept this result."

Both of Carlsen's wins over Gukesh followed the same pattern, with him gaining small late-midgame advantages that he converted into wins in the endgame.

In the first game, Carlsen took advantage of the pair of bishops over his opponent's bishop and knight. The chess king called it "the only good game I played in this tournament".

In the second game, he won thanks to a one-pawn advantage, despite having to accept a stacked pawn.

Carlsen pointed out Gukesh's fatal mistake in the opening game, 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 an endgame with exemplary objects.

Carlsen (white) took advantage of Gukesh's mistake with the e5 pawn move - Photo: screenshot

In contrast to Carlsen, Gukesh had a day to forget, scoring only 3 out of 12 possible points. The 19-year-old not only lost the top spot after two days of competition but also dropped to the bottom of the table, tied with Hikaru Nakamura with 7 points. The Indian said he would try to forget this disappointing performance.

The final day takes place from 0:00 on Thursday, October 30, Vietnam time, promising to be full of drama thanks to the special scoring format: Specifically, on the first day of competition, a win will get 1 point. On the second day, a win will get 2 points. And on the final day, a win will get 3 points, a draw 1 point.

With a win conferring a huge three-point advantage, a turnaround is possible. In fact, winning one and losing one is more advantageous than two draws. The title race will surely go down to the last minute.

The tournament brings together the world's top 4 players (Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana and Gukesh) with a total prize fund of $412,000, competing in rapid chess (10 minutes + 5 seconds) in a 6-round round robin format.

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/carlsen-thi-uy-suc-manh-truoc-vua-co-gukesh-20251029111002612.htm