6/1/2021 – Magnus Carlsen won the sixth tournament of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour after beating Wesley So in an exciting final match which was only decided in Armageddon. This was the third time Carlsen and So faced each other in a final of the tour, and So was inches away from scoring an unlikely third victory in a row. Meanwhile, Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Teimour Radjabov in the match for third place.

6/1/2021 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen won the FTX Crypto Cup after beating Wesley So in a dramatic final. The match on day 1 of the final ended with a 2-2 and that was also the result of the match on day 2. In the blitz-tiebreak Wesley So won the first game after a blunder by Carlsen, but Carlsen bounced back by winning on demand with Black and then also won the Armageddon game. In the match for place three Ian Nepomniachtchi won against Teimour Radjabov. Full report to follow soon. | Games and commentary.

5/31/2021 – Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen traded blows in the first set of the FTX Crypto Cup Finals which will be decided in Monday’s second mini-match — and potential blitz tiebreaker. A draw was also seen in the match for third place, except that Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi decided to give themselves a rest day, as they signed four quick draws on Sunday. | Photo: Nick Barton

5/29/2021 – On the first day of the FTX Crypto Cup semifinals, Wesley So beat Ian Nepomniachtchi by winning game 4 after having agreed to three draws. Meanwhile, world champion Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov traded blows in games 3 and 4, which means their match is tied going into day 2 of the semis.

5/28/2021 – Potentially Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi will meet in the final of the FTX Crypto Cup as both contenders to the World Championship advanced to the semifinals after beating their rivals in blitz tiebreakers. Carlsen will face Teimour Radjabov in the semis, while Nepomniachtchi will play an undefeated Wesley So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/27/2021 – Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So won the first sets of their quarterfinal matches in the FTX Crypto Cup, while Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana managed to draw their mini-matches by scoring wins on demand in the last game of the day against Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively. In the face-off between Carlsen and Nakamura, all four games finished decisively and favoured the player with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

5/26/2021 – The preliminaries of the FTX Crypto Cup ended on Tuesday, with eight of the sixteen players qualifying to the quarterfinals. Fabiano Caruana was the top scorer in the round robin, while Magnus Carlsen only managed to qualify at the last minute, after defeating Teimour Radjabov on demand in the last round. Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi also made it through.

5/25/2021 – Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov are sharing the lead on 6½/10 points in the preliminaries of the FTX Crypto Cup after two days of action. Out of the 16 participants, those that finish at the top half of the standings table will move on to the knockout stage. World champion Magnus Carlsen is currently sharing 6th-9th place with a 5½/10 score. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

5/24/2021 – The preliminaries of the FTX Crypto Cup, the sixth event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, started on Sunday. Anish Giri grabbed the sole lead with a 4/5 score, while world champion Magnus Carlsen only managed to get fifty percent of the points. There are ten more preliminary round games to come, so Carlsen is well in time to climb up the standings table. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

5/17/2021 – The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour delivers a world first for its next event: an elite-level bitcoin chess tournament. The star-studded FTX Crypto Cup starts on May 23 and offers a record $320,000 prize pot for an online event — $100,000 of that is a bonus paid in crypto by new sponsor FTX, the leading cryptocurrency exchange. Fans will be able to track the prize pot's value in real-time throughout the broadcast to see how it fluctuates.