Qatar 2015 Rd9: Carlsen takes title in thrilling final round

Qatar Masters 2015

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Round nine (final)

By Nisha Mohota and Albert Silver

Photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India

What a fantastic finale to the Qatar Masters! After beating drums and tooting horns in anticipation of a Carlsen-Kramnik showdown, the actual game was a bit of a letdown as the two settled for an uneventful draw. However, that only served to set up the most dramatic game of the day.

Magnus Carlsen checks the action on the nieghboring boards as he starts his game against Kramnik

Last year’s winner Yu Yangyi put in a heroic performance as he showed that he can win on demand when he beat Wesley So in the ninth and final round to tie for first place. It was a long and exciting battle as both players gave it their all, but in the end, the Chinese took the full point to take the fight for the title to a playoff.

The two players put it all out on the table, and Yu Yangyi once more showed his ability in must-win situations

All eyes were set to watch the tie break games and the fans waited to see if Yu Yangyi could repeat his feat of 2014, when he magically won the title after traling half a point behind entering the last round.

Unfortunately for him and his fans, those dreams of glory were quashed with extreme finality, as the world champion completely dominated the blitz playoff, winning two straight games and thus the coveted Qatar Masters title and the winner’s purse of US$27 thousand! In spite of the slightly disappointing finale, Yu Yangyi finished second and can walk home with his head high after a truly magnificent performance overall.

After staring at the blunder in disbelief, shaking his head, Yu Yangyi extends his hand in resignation

Replay the playoff games here

With last round victories, Serjey Karjakin, Sjugirov Sanan, Vassily Ivanchuk and Ni Hua joined Kramnik to tie for third place.

Five players achieved grandmaster norms : IMs Shardul Gagare and Vignesh N.R. of India, IM Daniil Yuffa of Russia, IM Lin Chen and untitled Xu Yinglun of China, who did so with an astounding 2800 FIDE performance.

The brightest female player in the world, Hou Yifan, clinched the best woman prize with a last round win against Li Di of China. She went home richer by 8000 dollars.

Twelve-year-old Firouzja Alireza of Iran, who had already secured his IM norm yesterday, ended the tournament on a winning note by accounting for GM Neelotpal Das of India. He finished the tournament with a whooping rating performance of 2534.

Replay all games of round nine (with times per move)

Complete pairings for round nine on 29.12.2015 at 12:00

Final standings (after nine rounds)

Schedule for Playchess Commentary

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