Carlsen obtains 23½-7½ victory, wins Speed Chess Championship

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/9/2024 – With a crushing 23½-7½ victory over Alireza Firouzja, Magnus Carlsen became the winner of the 2024 Speed Chess Championship. This is Carlsen's fourth SCC title, as only he and Hikaru Nakamura have ever won the tournament organised by chess.com. Carlsen outscored Firouzja in all 3 sections of the final match, which took place on Sunday at Espot in Paris. | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
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A fourth SCC title for Carlsen

Only 2 players have ever won the Speed Chess Championship: Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. At this year's edition, which had an in-person final stage in Paris, Carlsen grabbed his fourth SCC title - Nakamura has collected 5 so far - by beating Alireza Firouzja in the final match. Nakamura had secured third place on Saturday.

Firouzja came from showing remarkable chess in the previous rounds, but was outplayed by Carlsen from start to finish. As it is well-known, blitz and bullet chess are all about form, and the former world champion simply had a great day on Sunday. The Norwegian has shown once and again that he has the uncanny ability of (very frequently) performing at his best in the deciding rounds of top events - and this was no exception.

Carlsen got a 3-point lead in the 5-minute section, widened the gap to 9 points in the following 3-minute section and saw his opponent collapsing in the bullet. As noted by commentator Daniel Naroditsky, though, Firouzja is certainly capable of taking down his famed opponent in fast-paced events, as he had shocked the chess world by beating Carlsen in chess24's Banter Blitz Cup back in 2020 - when Firouzja was only 16 years old!

Soon after losing the match, Firouzja shared on X, referring to the World Rapid and Blitz Championships that are set to take place in New York at the end of the year:

Carlsen, on his part, shared a post in similar concise style:

It all, indeed, had to do with speed, as an ecstatic Carlsen himself explained in the post-match interview with the chess.com team:

What I was most happy about my performance today was that I was thinking a lot clearer with little time. On a lot of days, I'm just guessing when there's little time, and Alireza is usually a lot better than I am in those situations.

Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova

Speed Chess Championship 2024

Previous champions of the Speed Chess Championships

Carlsen 1 - 0 Firouzja

Analysis by André Schulz

All games - Carlsen v. Firouzja

Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 h6 8.Re1 Nbd7 9.Bf1 Re8 10.Rb1 a5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.a3 Nc5 13.Qc2 Bg4 14.Be3 b6 15.Rbd1 Qc8 16.Be2 a4 17.Bxc5 bxc5 18.h3 Bd7 19.Nd5 Nh7 20.Nh2 h5 21.Qd2 Nf8 22.g4 h4 23.Qg5 Ne6 24.Qxh4 Qd8 25.Qxd8 Rexd8 26.h4 Rab8 27.Rd2 f6 28.Red1 Nd4 29.g5 fxg5 30.hxg5 Be6 31.Kg2 c6 32.Nc3 Ra8 33.Ng4 Kf7 34.Ne3 Bf8 35.Ng4 Bd6 36.Rh1 Kg7 37.Nf6 Rh8 38.Rxh8 Kxh8 39.Bg4 Bxc4 40.Rd1 Kg7 41.Rh1 Bg8 42.Nxa4 Be7 43.Nb6 Rb8 44.Nfd7 Rb7 45.a4 Bxg5 46.a5 Ra7 47.Ra1 Nb3 48.Ra3 Rxa5 49.Rxa5 Nxa5 50.Nxc5 Nc4 51.Nxc4 Bxc4 52.Be6 Be7 53.Bxc4 Bxc5 54.f3 Bd4 55.b3 c5 56.Kg3 Kf6 57.Kg4 Bc3 58.Bd5 Bd4 59.Bc4 Bc3 60.Bd5 Bd4 61.Bc4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M3226Firouzja,A3212½–½2024Main Event4.1
Firouzja,A3212Carlsen,M32260–12024Main Event4.2
Carlsen,M3234Firouzja,A32040–12024Main Event4.3
Firouzja,A3213Carlsen,M32251–02024Main Event4.4
Carlsen,M3217Firouzja,A32211–02024Main Event4.5
Firouzja,A3213Carlsen,M32250–12024Main Event4.6
Carlsen,M3233Firouzja,A32051–02024Main Event4.7
Firouzja,A3198Carlsen,M32400–12024Main Event4.8
Carlsen,M3247Firouzja,A3191½–½2024Main Event4.9
Firouzja,A3192Carlsen,M3246½–½2024Main Event4.10
Carlsen,M3245Firouzja,A31931–02024Main Event4.11
Firouzja,A3186Carlsen,M32520–12024Main Event4.12
Carlsen,M3259Firouzja,A31791–02024Main Event4.13
Firouzja,A3173Carlsen,M32650–12024Main Event4.14
Carlsen,M3271Firouzja,A3167½–½2024Main Event4.15
Firouzja,A3169Carlsen,M32691–02024Main Event4.16
Carlsen,M3259Firouzja,A31791–02024Main Event4.17
Firouzja,A3173Carlsen,M32650–12024Main Event4.18
Carlsen,M3271Firouzja,A31671–02024Main Event4.19
Firouzja,A3218Carlsen,M31490–12024Main Event4.20
Carlsen,M3159Firouzja,A3208½–½2024Main Event4.21
Firouzja,A3207Carlsen,M31601–02024Main Event4.22
Carlsen,M3153Firouzja,A32140–12024Main Event4.23
Firouzja,A3221Carlsen,M31460–12024Main Event4.24
Carlsen,M3156Firouzja,A32111–02024Main Event4.25
Firouzja,A3202Carlsen,M31650–12024Main Event4.26
Carlsen,M3174Firouzja,A31931–02024Main Event4.27
Firouzja,A3185Carlsen,M31820–12024Main Event4.28
Carlsen,M3190Firouzja,A31771–02024Main Event4.29
Firouzja,A3169Carlsen,M31980–12024Main Event4.30
Carlsen,M3205Firouzja,A31621–02024Main Event4.31

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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