Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 1:48AM

It was a well-contested match, but in the end your humble blogger's prediction was correct: Magnus Carlsen defeated by Wesley So by two points, winning the Banter Blitz 2020 final by a 5.5-3.5 score. The difference was a matter of converting chances: Carlsen squeezed out half points in "drawn" endings, while So failed to convert winning advantages in multiple games. (Three, to be precise.)

Carlsen got out to a 2-0 lead, despite having a lost position at many times in game 1 and nothing special in game 2, either. In that first game, Carlsen began with 1.f3 and 2.Kf2, which may have made his most rabid fans happy but is to my mind an extraordinarily disrespectful way to play. Someone may reply that this is the point, to which my reply is that there are more valuable things than in life than succeeding in this way. At any rate, So obtained a winning position, but let Carlsen slip...and then obtained a winning position again. Still later Carlsen had a winning position, which he let slip, and it looked like So was finally going to save the game - until he didn't. In game two, So was defending a slightly worse but eminently drawable rook ending, but Carlsen has won games like this many, many times in his career, and So faltered once again.

So had a winning advantage in game 3, but Carlsen slipped away once again, though he "only" managed to draw this time. Getting on the scoreboard was apparently all that So needed, and he won a clean game (by blitz standards) in game 4 to close to within a point.

Unfortunately for So, Carlsen won a clean game (again, by blitz standards) in reply, bringing the lead back to two points, but the violence continued as So won speedily in game 6. So had been better, but he didn't need to prove the advantage when Carlsen simply blundered a piece on move 24. The lead was back to a single point, and when So held with the black pieces in game 7 the momentum seemed to be on his side.

So came out of the opening of game 8 with a huge, definitely winning advantage, but he couldn't figure out how to take full advantage of it, and Carlsen escaped with a draw. That put Carlsen in striking distance of the finish line, and he took advantage of it. He had an opportunity to win the game relatively early on (30.f4 more or less won on the spot, as Black's knight on d4 is stranded), but he let So escape to an inferior but objectively drawn ending. (Not trivially drawn.) Carlsen was in his element, however, and So didn't have time to find the precise moves necessary to hold it, and Carlsen won the game, the match, and the tournament.

Congrats to both Carlsen and So, and for those of you desperate for the next event, you won't have to wait long: Norway Chess starts October 5 (on the web), and is a double round robin with Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, Duda, Firouzja, and Tari.