Magnus Carlsen unleashed a true champion’s performance in Shamkir this week. The Norwegian, 28, surged at the finish, crushed three major rivals with impressive attacks, won with a round to spare, and set himself up for a tournament treble after winning at Wijk in January and with Germany’s Grenke Classic to come starting on 20 April.

Carlsen defeated the Netherlands world No 5, Anish Giri, by a classic attack on the king, outplayed his 2016 title challenger, Sergey Karjakin, in a strategic masterpiece which undermined computer assessments, then, with first prize already secure, toiled for hours in the final round to outplay Alexander Grischuk from a level position. Carlsen totalled 7/9, followed at a distance by China’s Ding Liren and Russia’s Karjakin with 5/9.

It didn’t look anything special after round six, but it became the most dominant performance by any top grandmaster since Fabiano Caruana won the Sinquefield Cup at St Louis 2014 with 8.5/10. That was a double-round event where the current world No 2 won his first six games, scored 1.5-0.5 against second-placed Carlsen three points behind, and had a tournament performance rating of 3098 as against Carlsen’s 2988 in Shamkir.

Carlsen himself has had higher TPRs at Pearl Spring 2009 and the London Classic 2012, but in both those events he scored heavily against tailenders who were below mega-elite class, whereas in Shamkir the two bottom placers are ranked No 4 and No 6 in the world.

Other claimants can argue a case for the best ever major international tournament result, notably because earlier events had more than the nine or 10 rounds of St Louis and Shamkir. In the distant past, Emanuel Lasker scored 18/22 at London 1899 and Alexander Alekhine 13/14 at San Remo 1930. Garry Kasparov had 12/14 at Tilburg 1989, and Anatoly Karpov 11/13 at Linares 1994 in what Kasparov pronounced before the start as a “world tournament championship” only to see his rival win it.

Bobby Fischer famously defeated Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen 6-0, 6-0 in successive candidates matches, but these were not tournaments, while Fischer’s 11-0 ‘picket fence’ in the 1962-63 US championship was against a lower calibre of opposition.

Carlsen’s live rating is now up to 2861, his best since June 2015. He has played at well above 2900 so far this year, so that surpassing his personal best of 2889 and then reaching a round figure would be appropriate targets if he wants them.

Technically, the standout feature has been the world champion’s use of a sharp counterattack with an early e7-e5 in the Sicilian Defence, the Sveshnikov variation. It is the same line he used against Fabiano Caruana in their world title match, and Carlsen has analysed it to a remarkable depth, judging it more profoundly than the assessments by computers. The key to his decisive win against Russia’s Sergey Karjakin was a prepared pawn sacrifice at move 21(!) which led to a later winning attack.

When a world champion has a hit with an opening, it becomes a model for tournament players to use in their own games. Some will use it to play a vicarious champion’s role, others will try to refute it. It happened when Fischer countered the Sicilian with Bc4, Kasparov adopted the Najdorf, or Vlad Kramnik the Berlin Wall. Look out for the Sveshnikov from now on in weekend tournaments or online blitz games.

The opening repeats Caruana v Carlsen, 12th game, until Karjakin improves by 15 Bg5!? Carlsen had prepared much further, to 20…0-0 and beyond. As he explained later: “If you turn on the computer it says White is better, but it doesn’t say if it’s easier to play for White or Black. He’s a pawn up but it feels like the stakes are higher for him. I’m going for mate and he has to survive.”

Karjakin could try 24 Bf4!? or later 26 Qc2!? since in the game Black controls the light squares and invades the white position via the e file. At the end Black has multiple threats of Re2, Re3 or Nxf2. The conclusion might be 40 Rad1 Nxf2+ 41 Rxf2 (or 41 Qxf2 Re2 42 Qg3 Qh6+) Qh5+ and Qxd1+.

Sergey Karjakin v Magnus Carlsen, Shamkir 2019

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Nd5 Nxd5 8 exd5 Ne7 9 c4 Ng6 10 Qa4 Bd7 11 Qb4 Bf5 12 Qa4 Bd7 13 Qb4 Bf5 14 h4 h5 15 Bg5!? Qb8 16 Be2 a6 17 Nc3 Qc7 18 g3 Be7 19 Be3 e4 20 O-O O-O! 21 Bxh5 Ne5 22 Be2 Qd7 23 Qa4 Qc8 24 c5?! dxc5 25 Nxe4 c4 26 Nc3?! b5 27 Qd1 b4! 28 Na4 Be4 29 Qd4 Qf5 30 f4 Qg6 31 Bf2 Nd3 32 h5 Qf5 33 Bg4? Qxg4 34 Qxe4 Bd6 35 Qg2 Rae8 36 Bd4 Qxh5 37 Qf3 Qg6 38 Kh1 Re4 39 Bf2 Rfe8 0-1

3614 1 Qc3! (stops Qh3+) Qb7 (the only way to guard both c8 and g7 against mate) 2 Qa1! Resigns as Black must allow Qg7 or Qa8.