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On day 3 of the preliminaries Carlsen won against Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda and drew with Wesley So, Praggnanandhaa and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Carlsen seems to be in top form, and perhaps it is because he gives his games a formal structure. After all, Carlsen is not playing from home, but from the offices of the tournament's sponsor, the Meltwater company in Oslo. And similar to other office workers, the World Champion took a bike to go to work. But he had either underestimated the time to reach the office or he had calculated it very precisely. At any rate, he arrived only minutes before his game against Alireza Firouzja wasa to start.
But Carlsen was not the only player who remained undefeated. Hikaru Nakamura also achieved this feat but he won only six of his 15 games, two less than Carlsen, and thus ended up in second place, one point behind the winner.
Nakamura's win against Gawain Jones was particularly interesting as Jones is considered to be one of the greatest experts in the Sicilian Dragon and Nakamura was ready to test his knowledge of these positions.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also scored 9.5/15 but had more wins – and more losses – than Nakamura.
The eight best players qualified for the knock-out stage. Apart from Carlsen, Nakamura and Mamedyarov these are Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Alireza Firouzja, and Le Quang Liem.
Wesley So played a remarkable and theoretically interesting game against Aryan Tari.
The young Indian Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa who had qualified for the New in Chess Classic by winning the Polgar Challenge scored 7.0/15 and finished on shared tenth place.He lost 5 of his 15 games, but also won four, and in round 12 was close to winning against Carlsen.
On the last day of the preliminaries there were a number of short draws which David Howell criticised in the Chess24 live broadcast: "It's disappointing! It really tests our patience now. It's a bit disrespectful to our spectators."
But of course, a lot of games were fought to the bitter end and led to a number of interesting endgames, which Karsten Müller liked to analyse.
Final standings |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 1. | Carlsen, Magnus | g | NOR | 2847 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 10.5 | 2868 | |||||
| 2. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2736 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 9.5 | 2822 | |||||
| 3. | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | g | AZE | 2770 | ½ | 0 | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 9.5 | 2819 | |||||
| 4. | So, Wesley | g | USA | 2770 | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.0 | 2796 | |||||
| 5. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2781 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 9.0 | 2796 | |||||
| 6. | Radjabov, Teimour | g | AZE | 2765 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.5 | 2775 | |||||
| 7. | Firouzja, Alireza | g | FID | 2759 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8.5 | 2775 | |||||
| 8. | Le, Quang Liem | g | VIE | 2709 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.5 | 2778 | |||||
| 9. | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | g | USA | 2758 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.0 | 2746 | |||||
| 10. | Praggnanandhaa, R | g | IND | 2608 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7.0 | 2714 | |||||
| 11. | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | g | POL | 2729 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7.0 | 2706 | |||||
| 12. | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | g | IND | 2726 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7.0 | 2706 | |||||
| 13. | Tari, Aryan | g | NOR | 2639 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7.0 | 2712 | |||||
| 14. | Karjakin, Sergey | g | RUS | 2757 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | 6.5 | 2675 | |||||
| 15. | Jones, Gawain C B | g | ENG | 2670 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 3.0 | 2491 | |||||
| 16. | Christiansen, Johan-Sebastian | g | NOR | 2618 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1.5 | 2368 | |||||
The interesting pairings of the quarterfinals promise another day of exciting chess:
