Oslo Esports Cup: Praggnanandhaa wins third match in a row

by André Schulz
4/25/2022 – After three rounds 16-year old Indian talent Praggnaanandhaa is sole leader at the Oslo Esports Cup and the only player who won all three matches. In round three Pragg defeated the Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem. Magnus Carlsen, who seems to suffer from a severe cold, won against Anish Giri and after two wins and one loss he is in second place.| Photos and pictures: PM Group

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Magnus Carlsen won the first two tournaments of this year's Meltwater Chess Champions Tour but in the first round of the Oslo Esports Cup, the third event of the series, the 16-year old Praggnanandhaa had the best start. Pragg is the youngest player in the field and – together with the Canadian Eric Hansen – also the player with the lowest Elo-rating.

Unlike the other tournaments of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, this online tournament is a pure round robin tournament, without a knock-out phase. And all eight players are not sitting at home in their study or in their living room, but meet in a studio in Oslo to play online via screen and computer.

At the Oslo Esports Cup, matches are played over a maximum of four rapid games. The winner of a match receives three points. In the event of a tie, there will be a play-off. In this case, the winner of the match receives two points and the loser one point.

After winning 2.5-0.5 against Jorden van Foreest on Friday, and 2.5-0.5 against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on Saturday, Praggnanandhaa continued his winning streak on Sunday and defeated Le Quang Liem 2.5-1.5.

 

"Today it was difficult," Pragg said after the match. "In the first game I was winning, but then I played b3 pretty quickly and he got counterplay. In the second game it was very complicated and in time trouble I didn't know what was happening. In the last game I definitely didn't play that well, but made some mistakes in time trouble."

Usually Magnus Carlsen dominates the online tournaments of "his" Champions Chess Tour. But the Norwegian World Champion seems to suffer from a cold and cannot bring all his energy to the virtual board, and on Saturday, Carlsen lost in round 2 against Le Quang Liem. In round 3, against Anish Giri, however, Carlsen did not show any weakness and won 2.5:0.5. The first game ended in a draw but then Carlsen secured the match with two wins.

Magnus Carlsen

_REPLACE_BY_ADV_1

World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda claimed his second match in a row by defeating Dutchman Jorden van Foreest 2.5-0.5.

In the fourth match "ChessBrah" streamer Eric Hansen prevailed against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Hansen won the first game, but the second game went to Mamedyarov. After a draw in game three, the last game went to the Canadian again.

In round 4 Praggnanandhaa will face Carlsen. The round will start again at 6 pm.

Standings after three rounds

Some endgame highlights, selected and annotated by Karsten Müller:

 
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1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 h6 9.Nxd5 Qxd5 10.Bd2 Rd8 11.Bc3 Qe6 12.Qc2 Qe7 13.Rac1 Bb6 14.a3 Nd4 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Bb4 Qe5 17.Bc5 c6 18.b4 Be6 19.Qb2 Qh5 20.Bf3 Bg4 21.Bxg4 Qxg4 22.Rc4 Qe6 23.Re1 Qf6 24.e4 dxe3 25.Qxf6 gxf6 26.Rxe3 Re8 27.Kf1 Rad8 28.Ke2 f5 29.Rf4 Rxe3+ 30.fxe3 Rd5 31.Rc4 Kg7 32.a4 Kf6 33.d4 h5 34.Kf3 Bxc5 35.bxc5 Rd7 36.Rb4 Kg6 37.a5 a6 38.Kf4 f6 39.Kf3 Kg5 40.Rb2 Re7 41.Rb1 Kg6 42.Ke2 Kg5 43.Kd3 Kg6 44.d5 cxd5 45.Kd4 Rd7 46.Rb6 Kg5 47.c6 bxc6 48.Rxa6 Re7 49.Rxc6 Re4+ 50.Kc5 Rxe3 51.a6 Ra3 52.Kb6 Carlsen's rook trick Rook endings have a large drawish tendency, but pawn races are different: d4? Giri advances the wrong pawn. 52...f4 draws, e.g. 53.gxf4+ 53.Rc5 fxg3 54.Rxd5+ Kg4 55.hxg3 Rxa6+ 56.Kxa6 f5 57.Rd3 f4 58.gxf4 Kxf4= 53...Kxf4 54.Rxf6+ Ke5 55.Rh6 d4 56.Rxh5+ Kf4 57.Ra5 Rxa5 58.Kxa5 d3 59.a7 d2 60.a8Q d1Q= 53.a7 d3 53...Kg4 does not defend due to 54.Rc5 d3 55.Rc3 Rxc3 56.a8Q Rc2 57.Qh1+- 54.Rc3‼ The decisive trick. Rxc3 54...Rxa7 55.Kxa7 d2 56.Rd3+- 54...d2 55.Rxa3 d1Q 56.a8Q Qd6+ 57.Kb5 Qe5+ 58.Kc4 Qe2+ 59.Kc5 Qe5+ 60.Qd5 Qe7+ 61.Qd6+- 55.a8Q d2 55...Kg4 56.Qd5+- 56.Qg8+ Kh6 57.Qd8 This double attack destroys Black's set up. Rb3+ 58.Kc5 Rc3+ 58...Rb2 59.Qxf6+ Kh7 60.Qxf5+ Kh6 61.Qe6+ Kg7 62.Qd7+ Kg6 63.h4 Kf6 64.Qd5 Kg7 65.Qxh5+- 59.Kb4 Rc6 59...d1Q 60.Qxd1 Re3 61.Qd2 f4 62.Qd4 Kg6 63.gxf4+- 60.Qxd2+ Kg6 61.Qd8 Rc2 62.Qg8+ Kh6 63.Qf7 Rxh2 64.Qxf6+ Kh7 65.Qxf5+ Kh6 66.g4 66.g4 hxg4 66...Rb2+ 67.Kc3+- 66...Rh4 67.Qf6++- 67.Qf4++- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2864Giri,A27731–02022A29MCCT Oslo Esports Cup 20223.2
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 c5 6.dxc5 Na6 7.Nc3 Nxc5 8.0-0 d6 9.Nd4 Bd7 10.b3 Rc8 11.Bb2 a6 12.h3 Qc7 13.Rc1 Qb8 14.b4 Ne6 15.Nb3 b5 16.cxb5 axb5 17.Qd3 Nc7 18.a3 Rfd8 19.Rfd1 d5 20.Nc5 Bc6 21.Nb3 e5 22.Bf1 Nfe8 23.Na5 Ba8 24.Nb1 Nd6 25.Nd2 Nc4 26.Qb1 Ne6 27.Naxc4 bxc4 28.e4 dxe4 29.Nxc4 Nd4 30.Ne3 f5 31.Rxc8 Qxc8 32.Nc4 Qe6 33.Na5 Bd5 34.b5 Ra8 35.Bc3 f4 36.Re1 Rc8 37.b6 Rxc3 38.b7 Bxb7 39.Qxb7 e3 40.fxe3 fxe3 41.Rxe3 Rc1 42.Qb2 Qc8 43.Nb3 Rc2 44.Qb1 Nf5 Opposite colored bishops favor the attacker In the middlegame they have nothing to do with a draw. Most often they increase the advantage of the attacker like in this case: 45.Rd3? Now Black's powerplay on the dark squares decides the day. 45.Re2 was forced, but Black should be winning in the long run after Rc3 anyway. 45...e4 46.Rd5 Bh6 47.Rxf5 47.Qd1 does not defend due to Be3+ 48.Kh1 Ng3+ 49.Kh2 Nxf1+ 50.Qxf1 Rf2 51.Qd1 Qc7+ 52.Kh1 Qf4 53.Rd8+ Kg7 54.Qd7+ Kh6-+ 47...gxf5 48.Qd1 Kh8 49.Kh1 Rc3 50.a4 Qb8 51.Bb5 Bg7 52.Nc1 h6 53.Ne2 Ra3 54.Qd7 Ra1+ 55.Ng1 Qe5 56.Qc8+ Kh7 57.Bc4 h5 58.h4 Qf6 59.g3 Qe5 60.Kg2 f4 60...Rxg1+ mates in 9 moves in beautiful ways, e.g. 61.Kxg1 Qxg3+ 62.Kf1 Qf3+ 63.Kg1 63.Ke1 Bc3# 63...Bd4+ 64.Kh2 Qf4+ 65.Kh1 Qxh4+ 66.Kg2 Qg4+ 67.Kh2 Be5+ 68.Kh1 Qh3+ 69.Kg1 Bd4# 61.gxf4 Qxf4 62.Qg8+ Kh6 63.Be2 Ra3 64.Qe6+ Bf6 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mamedyarov,S2771Hansen,E26060–12022E61MCCT Oslo Esports Cup 20223.1

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Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
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