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Analyses from the Magnus Carlsen Invitational and FIDE Nations Cup by Giri, Duda, Firouzja, Adhiban and others. CBM Special: Boobby Fischer! 11 articles with new repertoire ideas. Videos by Werle, King and Marin. Training: tactics, strategy and endgame!

12/28/2019 – Magnus Carlsen and Humpy Koneru were crowned 2019 World Rapid Champions in Moscow. Carlsen all but secured first place with a round to spare, and then confirmed it with a 22-move draw against Hikaru Nakamura. Humpy, on the other hand, caught up with Lei Tingjie in the final round after the latter lost against Ekaterina Atalik — the Indian star would then go on to beat Lei in the Armageddon phase of tiebreaks. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Firouzja gets silver

The Rapid World Championships finished on Saturday in Moscow. In the open section, Magnus Carlsen, the perennial favourite, got clear first place with an astounding 11½/15 score. Three players finished a full point behind, with 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja getting the silver medal and Hikaru Nakamura taking the bronze. Vladislav Artemiev also collected 10½ points, but was left out of the podium.

This is Carlsen's 11th WC title in 10 years:

Classical: 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018

Blitz: 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018

Rapid: 2014, 2015 and 2019#rapidchess — Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) December 28, 2019

Among the women, Lei Tingjie reached the final round a half point ahead of her compatriot Tan Zhongyi and a full point ahead of a five-player group. Lei Tingjie lost with Black against Ekaterina Atalik, allowing Humpy Koneru and Atalik herself to catch up on 9 out of 12 points. Although prize money was evenly distributed, a play-off took place to decide the champion between Lei Tingjie and Humpy Koneru. The Indian player lost game one, but bounced back and then won the Armageddon decider to take the title.

Replay the games with computer analysis. Full report will come up shortly.

Live games and commentary

Players receive 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move for the entire game.

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Commentary by GM Leko, GM Miroschnichenko & WGM Skripchenko | FIDE Chess

Final standings (Open, top 25)

...207 players

Final standings (Women, top 20)

...122 players

Alireza Firouzja becomes second Iranian sports figure in recent months to try renouncing citizenship over pressures on athletes to forego matches with Israeli competitorshttps://t.co/SyYoeDrn4M — Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) 24. Dezember 2019

The 16-year-old Iranian Alireza Firouzja is in Moscow, despite a general prohibition from the Iranian association, which did not want its players competing against Israelis. Iran is also regional rivals with Saudi Arabia, however they did allow three female players to participate in Moscow — there are no Israelis among the women.

Firouzja now starts under "FIDE" flag, and he is reportedly striving to join another country's chess federation. The USA and France are under discussion — Firouzja currently lives in France.

Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Anna Muzychuk | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

No opening ceremony without a bit of music! | Foto: Eteri Kublashvili

Magnus Carlsen followed the action standing | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Starting list Rapid (Open)

... 207 Players

Starting list Rapid (Women)

... 122 Players

Schedule

Because there are only 12 rounds in the women's tournament, there is no round at 16:00. Otherwise the schedule is the same for both tournaments (in UTC).

Round Date Time (UTC) 1 Dec. 26 11.00 2 12.15 3 13.30 4 14.45 5 16.00 (Open only) 6 Dec. 27 12.00 7 12.15 8 11.30 9 14.45 10 16.00 (Open only) 11 Dec. 28 11.00 12 12.15 13 13.30 14 14.45 15 16.00 (Open only)

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