12/12/2023 – Wesley So beat Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov to keep a perfect score of 6 wins in 6 matches at the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto. Carlsen (5 points) has also secured a ticket to the semifinals, while Hikaru Nakamura (1) and Denis Lazavik (1), who face each other in round 7, will need a couple of results to go their way if they want to reach the ‘survival stage’. | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
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Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
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Fighting for survival
The scoring system in the round-robin section of the Champions Chess Tour Finals is all about match wins. Players simply get 1 point if they win a match, or 0 points if they lose. In case of ties in the final standings, the first tiebreak criterion is the direct result between players — i.e. in case of a two-way tie, this criterion will always be enough to break the tie.
Going into the final round, Wesley So already secured a direct ticket to the semifinals with his 6 points in as many rounds. Magnus Carlsen, with 5 points, is also in semis, as even if he loses and Fabiano Caruana (4 points) wins on Tuesday, Carlsen will get through as he won their direct confrontation in the third round.
Let Toptrainer Sokolov show you the ins and outs of middlegames. This course is about the catalan structures vs. semi-slav/triangle setups
Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (3 points) already have secured spots in the 4-player ‘survival stage’, while Hikaru Nakamura (1) and Denis Lazavik (1) will fight for survival in their round-7 match. If Nakamura wins, he also needs for Alireza Firouzja (2) to lose against Carlsen, while if Lazavik wins, he also needs for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2) to lose against Abdusattorov.
Round 5: So beats Carlsen
The two players who kept perfect scores throughout the first two days of action, Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen, were paired up against each other in round 5. After drawing the two first games, So played a magnificent game with white in the Armageddon (analysed below by GM Karsten Müller) to defeat the tour’s defending champion.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov also won with white in Armageddon to inflict Hikaru Nakamura’s fourth loss of the event. Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, on their part, got 1½-½ victories over Denis Lazavik and Alireza Firouzja, respectively.
Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
Round 6: Caruana beats Nakamura
Showing great defensive skills in the first two games of the match, Fabiano Caruana managed to take his confrontation against Hikaru Nakamura to Armageddon. A tactically alert Caruana took the initiative in the middlegame, and went on to get the win. For Caruana, this did not change his standing on the tournament table, but the loss was very significant for Nakamura, who might be — surprisingly — eliminated from the competition on Tuesday.
Wesley So kept his perfect score in round 6 by drawing three games with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, as he got the black pieces in the sudden-death decider. Similarly, Alireza Firouzja beat Denis Lazavik by drawing in Armageddon with black.
The one match decided after two 15-minute games saw Magnus Carlsen beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos 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.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
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