Five-time World Chess Champion and World No.1 on the FIDE rating list GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2835) emerged as the Winner of the FIDE World Chess Cup for the first time in his career!
Magnus Carlsen won the event after defeating 18-year-old GM Praggnanandhaa R (IND, 2690) in the exciting finals. The first two classical games were concluded in a draw, and the Winner of the event got to be determined in the tiebreaks. Carlsen found his advantage in the first 25-minute rapid game in a complicated endgame, and scored a very important victory. The second rapid game concluded in a draw after only 22 moves of play and Carlsen claimed the FIDE World Chess Cup 2023!
On the way to add FIDE World Cup trophy to his rich collection, Carlsen defeated:
- R2 – GM Pantsulaia Levan (GEO, 2564), score 2-0
- R3 – GM Tari Aryan (NOR, 2641), score 1.5-0.5
- R4 – GM Keymer Vincent (GER, 2690), score 3.5-1.5
- R5 – GM Ivanchuk Vasyl (UKR, 2667), score 2-0
- R6 – GM Gukesh D (IND, 2744), score 1.5-0.5
- R7 – GM Abasov Nijat (AZE, 2632), score 1.5-0.5
- R8 – GM Praggnanandhaa R (IND, 2690), score 2.5-1.5
GM Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2782) and GM Nijat Abasov (AZE, 2632) played the match for bronze medal. Caruana lost the first game as Black, but won the second classical game on demand to take the match to the tiebreaks. He won both 25-minute rapid games to clinch the bronze medal .
The FIDE World Chess Cup 2023 took place from 29th July to 25th August in Baku, Azerbaijan, and featured 206 players. The total prize fund of the event was 1.834.000 USD, with three qualification spots for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024.
Photos by: FIDE/ Stev Bonhage and Maria Emalianova (chess.com)
