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Magnus Carlsen continues to collect World Championship titles. Thanks to a brilliant 3-day performance in Samarkand, the Norwegian grabbed his fifth World Rapid Championship title after obtaining an undefeated 10/13 score.
Since 2013, Carlsen has won 16 World Championship titles. The first one he got was, in fact, the classical title — in Chennai. The very next year he grabbed the ‘triple crown’, after winning both the rapid and blitz categories in Dubai.
Master Class Vol.8 - Magnus Carlsen 2nd Edition
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.
The 33-year-old went on to win four more matches for the world crown in classical chess and collected five more blitz titles and (now) four more rapid titles. As pointed out by Tarjei J. Svensen, perhaps the most impressive fact if we look back on Carlsen’s performance on these all-important events is his incredible stability. In ten World Rapid Championships, the ace has never finished below fifth place!
Perhaps the most impressive thing with Carlsen in these events, isn't just that he tends to win many of them, but his stability. His placements in the World Rapid Ch. since 2012:
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) December 28, 2023
2023: 🏆
2022: 🏆
2021: 🥉
2019: 🏆
2018: 5th
2017: 5th
2016: 🥉
2015: 🏆
2014: 🏆
2012: 🥈
In Samarkand, Carlsen entered day 3 of the rapid sharing first place with Vladimir Fedoseev and Yu Yangyi. Round 10, the first of the day, saw him beating Fedoseev in the critical clash of co-leaders. Carlsen became the sole leader and did not let go of that spot until the end of the tournament.
A second consecutive win, over Iranian GM Pouya Idani, left him a half point ahead of Vidit Gujrathi in the standings. Vidit came from grabbing back-to-back victories over Anton Korobov and Arjun Erigaisi. The run of consecutive wins could have continued in round 12, as Vidit got a clear advantage in his game with white against Fedoseev.
This is a completely winning setup for White. Not only does he have an extra pawn and the bishop pair in an open position, but he also has the initiative. Incredibly, however, Vidit began to play imprecise moves at around this point, first giving up his advantage and then blundering into a lost position.
Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster
The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
After losing this game, Vidit drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to finish in shared third place (fourth on tiebreaks) with 9/13 points. The winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss then shared a post on X confessing, “This won’t be easy to forget💔”.
Vidit Gujrathi | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Fedoseev’s victory left him in sole second place a half point behind Carlsen going into the final round. Both contenders for the title got the white pieces and drew their games — against Praggnanandhaa and Dmitry Andreikin respectively — which meant the perennial favourite had secured outright victory.
With his 9½/13 performance, Fedoseev, now representing Slovenia, finished in sole second place. A 12-player group scored 9/13 points, with Yu Yangyi grabbing the bronze medal on tiebreak criteria.
The biggest underdog in the large group with 9 points was Volodar Murzin, who finished the tournament undefeated and collected wins over Praggnanandhaa, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian!
Volodar Murzin | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand
This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.
Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for his fifth Rapid crown. Like many of his victories, it doesn't even look like he is trying very hard @MagnusCarlsen
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) December 28, 2023
Vladimir Fedoseev took home the silver medal | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Yu Yangyi had the better tiebreak score among the group with 9 points and thus collected the bronze | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Elite GMs relaxing after a demanding tournament — Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (9/13 points), Fabiano Caruana (9/13) and Richard Rapport (8½/13) | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2818 | 10 | 99 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2716 | 9,5 | 98 | ||||
| 3 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2699 | 9 | 99,5 | ||||
| 4 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2691 | 9 | 98,5 | ||||
| 5 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2547 | 9 | 97 | ||||
| 6 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2767 | 9 | 96 | ||||
| 7 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2712 | 9 | 94 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2706 | 9 | 93,5 | ||||
| 9 | GM | Andreikin, Dmitry | 2629 | 9 | 92 | ||||
| 10 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2678 | 9 | 92 | ||||
| 11 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2727 | 9 | 91 | ||||
| 12 | GM | Svidler, Peter | 2737 | 9 | 90 | ||||
| 13 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2762 | 9 | 89,5 | ||||
| 14 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2644 | 9 | 84,5 | ||||
| 15 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2654 | 8,5 | 100,5 | ||||
| 16 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | 2618 | 8,5 | 98 | ||||
| 17 | GM | Matlakov, Maxim | 2616 | 8,5 | 92 | ||||
| 18 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2601 | 8,5 | 91 | ||||
| 19 | GM | Rapport, Richard | 2735 | 8,5 | 90,5 | ||||
| 20 | GM | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2642 | 8,5 | 90 | ||||
| 21 | GM | Dardha, Daniel | 2543 | 8,5 | 89 | ||||
| 22 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2655 | 8,5 | 87,5 | ||||
| 23 | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2721 | 8,5 | 87 | ||||
| 24 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2698 | 8,5 | 87 | ||||
| 25 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2656 | 8,5 | 85,5 |
Entering the final three rounds of action in the women’s tournament, Anastasia Bodnaruk had a half-point lead over Humpy Koneru and Zhai Mo, with seven strong players standing a further half point back.
Bodnaruk remained atop the standings after drawing Humpy and Zhai in rounds 9 and 10. At that point, third seed Lei Tingjie (the challenger of the latest match for the Women’s World Championship) had caught up with her in the lead. A group of five players stood a half point behind with one round to go.
Co-leaders Lei and Bodnaruk signed a 3-move draw in the final round, a more understandable decision for Bodnaruk, who both had the black pieces and a better tiebreak score — in case of a tie for first between more than two players, the two participants with the better tiebreak scores would decide the tournament winner in a blitz playoff.
Attacking with the Jobava London System
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Out of all the chasers, only Humpy grabbed a win in round 11, as she obtained an advantage out of the opening and converted it into a victory playing white against Kateryna Lagno.
Bodnaruk and Humpy had better tiebreak scores than Lei, which meant they were to play a blitz playoff to decide the championship.
Humpy Koneru beat the ever-fighting Kateryna Lagno to catch the leaders in the final round | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Lei Tingjie grabbed the bronze medal | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
In the playoff, Humpy — who won this event back in 2019 — kicked off with a win. Bodnaruk bounced back with black in a wild encounter, which meant two more blitz games would follow.
The third blitz encounter ended in a draw, and once again it was Bodnaruk who prevailed in the rematch, when she obtained a major time advantage — while getting a clearly inferior position on the board.
Humpy, playing white, has a piece for two pawns here, with a winning position. Her 38.Kc7 was a mistake, as it allowed 38...Rxb3, and the position is now balanced.
More importantly, though, this miss seems to have befuddled the Indian star, who lost on time after 39.Rd4 Bd5. The final moments of the dramatic game were captured and shared on FIDE’s X profile:
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
The final game of the FIDE Women’s World Rapid Championship couldn’t be more dramatic!
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 28, 2023
Humpy Koneru blundered in a winning position and eventually lost on time after a couple of moves. Watch Anastasia Bodnaruk’s reactions the moment she became the 2023 FIDE Women’s World Rapid… pic.twitter.com/wCVPXXT6KF
Anastasia Bodaruk leaving the playing hall after winning game 4 of the blitz playoff | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
The 2023 World Rapid Chess champions! | Photo: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Bodnaruk, Anastasia | 2265 | 8,5 | 73,5 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2444 | 8,5 | 71,5 | ||||
| 3 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 2517 | 8,5 | 71 | ||||
| 4 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2371 | 8 | 71 | ||||
| 5 | WGM | Zhai, Mo | 2351 | 8 | 70 | ||||
| 6 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2575 | 8 | 66 | ||||
| 7 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | 2412 | 8 | 65,5 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2463 | 7,5 | 69 | ||||
| 9 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2486 | 7,5 | 68,5 | ||||
| 10 | IM | Garifullina, Leya | 2287 | 7,5 | 68,5 | ||||
| 11 | WGM | Yu, Jennifer | 2217 | 7,5 | 67 | ||||
| 12 | IM | Narva, Mai | 2351 | 7,5 | 61,5 | ||||
| 13 | FM | Sahithi, Varshini M | 2138 | 7,5 | 60 | ||||
| 14 | GM | Zhu, Jiner | 2431 | 7 | 76,5 | ||||
| 15 | WIM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2239 | 7 | 69 | ||||
| 16 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2424 | 7 | 68,5 | ||||
| 17 | WGM | Munkhzul, Turmunkh | 2279 | 7 | 67,5 | ||||
| 18 | WFM | Nurgaliyeva, Zarina | 1963 | 7 | 65,5 | ||||
| 19 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2436 | 7 | 65,5 | ||||
| 20 | IM | Fataliyeva, Ulviyya | 2227 | 7 | 64 | ||||
| 21 | WGM | Ni, Shiqun | 2362 | 7 | 63,5 | ||||
| 22 | WGM | Priyanka, Nutakki | 2205 | 7 | 63 | ||||
| 23 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | 2528 | 7 | 63 | ||||
| 24 | IM | Nomin-Erdene, Davaademberel | 2286 | 7 | 58,5 | ||||
| 25 | WGM | Wagner, Dinara | 2340 | 7 | 55,5 |
