Champions Chess Tour, Round 9 - Results and standings

by ChessBase
10/4/2021 – Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian won in the last round of the Champions Chess Tour Finals to secure second and third places behind tour champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen beat Wesley So, leaving the Filipino-born grandmaster in fourth place. | Results, games and standings. Full report to follow shortly.
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Time control

The time controls for for all events are:

  • Rapid: 15 minutes per player, plus a 10 second increment for every move
  • Blitz: 5 minutes per player, plus a 3 second increment for every move
  • Armageddon: 5 minutes for White, 4 minutes for Black, no increment; Black wins the tie in case of a draw.

Scoring

Players earn 3 points for a match win in the games (the loser earns 0 points. A match win after tie-breaks earns the winner 2 points (1 point for the loser).

In addition to these points, the players start off with bonus points based on their Tour rankings coming into the Final. The player with the fewest Tour points gets 0 bonus points, and the other players are awarded half a point for every full 10 points they have more than the player with the least number. For example, if Player A has the fewest Tour points with 86, a Player B with 143 Tour points will be awarded 2.5 points, since they exceed Player A's total by 57 (no rounding). (Quoted from Wikipedia)

The player with the greatest sum of bonus points and points won in the finals will be crowned the Tour Champion.

Results of round 9

Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals 2021

Final standings

Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals 2021

Games

 

Live commentary - GMs Peter Leko and Simon Williams

Links

Tournament page...

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Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

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Theochessman Theochessman 9/27/2021 08:33
These days they even call games with a 30 minute time control as "Classical Chess"
It's just ridiculous.
Jacob woge Jacob woge 9/27/2021 07:51
Marx, for one, coined the phrase “Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.”

Well this is my take:

Fast chess is to chess what fast food is to food.
Instant Karma... then forgotten about. There is no such thing as a memorable fast food meal. (Except - I once had a half-baked pizza. Dough and goo. Never went a second time.)

Fast chess exists in its own right, but should it become the principal chess diet, chess obesity will result. I have had it up to here. Stuffed as a thanksgiving turkey.
GR2 GR2 9/27/2021 05:40
Like many sports there has been the introduction of a shorter version to meet demand or create new demand. Generally the longer version maintains its preiminent position. I prefer the longer version of many sports but also enjoy the shorter versions. I adjust my expectations for each version of the game and enjoy them for what they are.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 9/27/2021 04:44
@Masquer "It's a tradeoff, you get more spectator-friendly fighting chess at these time controls."

This approach will get some spectators temporarily who are less interested in chess than in drama. People who are not interested in chess, but want to see the blood of the players will easily lose focus for something else, which is more spectacular in the outlook. But, in the process we lose many spectators, who are actually watching top-level chess. The trade is quantity instead of quality. No, thanks!
lajosarpad lajosarpad 9/27/2021 04:39
I fully agree with the criticism of these faster time controls. Chess used to be an intellectual activity where people take their TIME and think. Of course, an intellectual activity excludes those who are less interested in the truth of the position and more interested to see the blood. There are lots of sports for them, like boxing. But for us it is chess only. But, unfortunately, slowly it turns out to be the (n+1)th sporting activity, without truth-searching. Also, looking at dozens of games daily in the hope that some of them might be interesting is time-consuming and exhausting and more often than not provides worse quality than one would hope for. I think we are witnessing the death of chess unless we all realize that the current trends lead nowhere.
MauvaisFou MauvaisFou 9/27/2021 10:07
Yes Jacob ! And there is a wonderful book Zurich 1953. Same for New York 1924, Nottingham 1936. And the USSR championships and the legendary WC matches, up to Short-Kasparov, will be remembered for a long time. Am I a grumbling old man because I regret these times ? I know plenty of those games by heart. Now who memorizes even the initial positions of Random Chess, which is so fashionable ? I agree that adjournments are not possible anymore, and that the top players are so well prepared that they need a little less time, but still ... Dumkof, I am afraid the players use their skills to earn money, then retire (early). Do they really love chess, like Alekhine, Fischer, Korchnoi or Bronstein ??
dumkof dumkof 9/27/2021 01:51
Players at such high calibre could do a gentlemen's agreement and refuse any fast time controls or uneven matchups like arbitrary Armageddons, for the sake of chess and their self-respect. Hard to understand that they let themselves torture this way. They could potentially produce much better chess games. As the best players and greatest ambassadors of this game, they carry the responsibility to interfere and keep this respectable game in the right direction.
Jacob woge Jacob woge 9/26/2021 11:13
“... you get more spectator-friendly fighting chess at these time controls.“ Do you, now. In the early 1990ies, I was a friendly spectator of the Zürich 1953 Candidates. Watched the entire event, with time delayed comments from D. Bronstein. Which of these games from this and similar events will be watched forty years from now? The focus of interest has shifted, away from the game and onto the result, or, less relevant still, the prize money.
Michael Jones Michael Jones 9/26/2021 11:00
That "bonus point" system is utterly bizarre. It effectively ensures before the tournament starts that either Carlsen or So will win it - the others are just too far behind to have a realistic chance of catching up (and even So will have difficulty catching Carlsen). Duda or Mamedyarov could win all their games in the tournament itself, Carlsen make a -1 or -2 score and he'd still finish "ahead" of them. It's like deciding that in the Olympic 100m final, all but one of the runners will get headstarts of varying lengths according to their times in the semifinal.
Aighearach Aighearach 9/26/2021 09:26
All that effort and all those great moves by Mamedyarov, only to lose by a blunder similar to those that happen in many reader's games. Such is what these time controls reduce chess to...
Theochessman Theochessman 9/26/2021 03:53
Totally agree. Faster and faster time controls (which also infects us amateur competitions) is not good for chess.
Masquer Masquer 9/26/2021 12:39
It's a tradeoff, you get more spectator-friendly fighting chess at these time controls.
Portlyotter Portlyotter 9/25/2021 11:22
Agree with you my friend. Utterly boring. I am rapidly falling out of love with modern chess and the obsession with these endless quick buck tournaments.
MauvaisFou MauvaisFou 9/25/2021 08:20
So many different forms of tournaments. I am lost and I lose any interest in them.
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