Carlsen twice checkmates So, wins Aimchess Rapid

by Klaus Besenthal
7/16/2023 – In the Grand Final of the Aimchess Rapid, Magnus Carlsen defeated Wesley So by a 3-1 score on Friday. The 15+3 rapid tournament was the fourth event of the Champions Chess Tour and was played online. In the overall tour standings, Carlsen now has a 95-point lead over his closest chaser, Fabiano Caruana. Denis Lazavik won Division II, while Yu Yangyi prevailed in Division III.
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A clear winner

Magnus Carlsen kicked off the Grand Final with back-to-back wins. In the first game, he got a considerable advantage in the middlegame, missed a chance to all but end the game on move 36, and then saw his opponent blundering in a rook and knight versus rook and bishop ending.

Carlsen got to checkmate Wesley So in the next game, but the resilient US grandmaster won on-demand in game 3, thus keeping theoretical chances of winning the match. However, the former world champion again managed to give a checkmate in game 4.

Overall tour standings

Aimchess Rapid

Division I - Games and brackets

Division II - Games and brackets

Division III: Games at Live.ChessBase.com | Brackets at Challonge.com

Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.