Grand Chess Tour - Leuven: The Magnus Carlsen Show

The Leuven tournament of the Grand Chess Tour is running from June 28 to July 2 in Leuven, Belgium. It is a combination of Rapid and Blitz games. The ten participants are Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Viswanathan Anand, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Vassily Ivanchuk, and Baadur Jobava. They will play nine rapid games, three a day, from June 28–30. Each day the games will start at 14:00h, 15:30h and 17:00h European Standard Summer Time. The Blitz tournament is on July 1-2, with nine rounds on each day, starting at 14:00h. The total prize fund is $150,000!

Note that the event is using the Bronstein mode: the players have 25 minutes for all the moves of a rapid game, and a ten second delay per move. This means that the clock does not run for ten seconds – the point is that you cannot accumulate time by playing very quickly in the Bronstein Mode.

Day four

All photos by Lennart Ootes

Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri were visibly in good spirits before the start. That said, play blitz all day and get paid for it... What's not to like?

I sort of felt Wesley So's lead of three points over Magnus Carlsen wasn't exactly safe, but to see it evaporate over just nine games was surreal. It's not like So played poorly either, since he actually started with two wins and ended up on 50%, which is a marked improvement over his disastrous showing in Paris. The problem is, it wasn't enough, not with the way Carlsen was playing.

Over the years I have watched Carlsen finishing first in tournaments against the best of the best, and I saw him winning the Candidates and beating Anand twice, but I swear I have never seen Magnus as dominating as he was today.

At the start he needed a bit of help from his opponents who couldn't seem to hold their own in the endgame.

Both Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen have given us many a great battle

Vishy Anand - Magnus Carlsen

Keep in mind that Vishy didn't play badly today. His score halfway through the blitz is 5.0/9, and that is after starting 0/2.

While Vachier-Lagrave's excellent performance last week in Paris gave reason to expect more of the same. It just didn't happen for Maxime today. I guess, being away in the remote foreign country of Belgium is not the same as home in France.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was unable to hold off Hurricane Carlsen

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Magnus Carlsen

With 6.0/9, Vladimir Kramnik was the second highest performer in the first salvo of blitz games

Having received some donations in the early going, Magnus flexed his shoulders and started beating people for real. He got to 5.5/6, with only one draw surrendered to Vladimir Kramnik.

Magnus Carlsen - Vassily Ivanchuk

Ian Nepomniachtchi was dispatched even quicker, and was being mated by Magnus after a mere 19 moves.

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Magnus Carlsen

It took a little more effort in the next game, but Levon Aronian played the obligatory part in another rook endgame butchery.

Magnus Carlsen - Levon Aronian

Then came the only blemish in Carlsen's magnificent day – he got beat by Anish Giri. The game was actually quite good, and I hope the readers will forgive me for omitting it, but I don't want to spoil my Magnus show.

Anish Giri was the second best performer with 5.5/9 and inflicting Magnus Carlsen's only defeat of the day

Instead, how about this one.

Baadur Jobava - Magnus Carlsen

They might be separated by only 12 Elo in classical games, but in blitz Magnus Carlsen is the clear king

There was still one more game to win, and that was a head-to-head with Wesley. In response, Magnus saved his best for last.

Magnus Carlsen - Wesley So

Carlsen's powerhouse performance left other games and results a sideshow. I will mention, however, good play by Kramnik (6.0/9, with no losses) and Giri (5.5/9 points), in the latter case a stark contrast with Anish's horrible result in the Norway Blitz.

Nepo also managed a plus score, but it isn't saying much, not with Ivanchuk joining the Great Jobava Points Giveaway. We already saw his disaster game with Magnus, but Ian's Round 6 loss to Wesley from a promising attacking position was also a great disappointment.

The audience was treated to analysis by Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short

There will be more jockeying for prize money and Tour points tomorrow, but I'll hazard a prediction that Magnus Carslen will run away with his second Grand Chess Tour victory. (Ed: As a matter of fact, the evening before the Blitz games, Yermo predicted in private 16/18 for Carlsen).

Final rapid crosstable

(Click for full size)

*Note: All rapid games are worth double
**Note: FIDE Rapid ratings are used in crosstable.

Blitz crosstable after nine rounds

(Click for full size)

*Note: FIDE Blitz ratings are used in crosstable.

Combined standings

Links

• Official tournament site
• All Rapid games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Blitz games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.