7/12/2021 – Magnus Carlsen seems to be well prepared for the World Cup. Before this big knockout event thats starts today, 12 July, the World Champion travelled to Pamplona in Spain to play a two-day knockout 3+2 blitz online tournament from there - with some of the world's best players. Carlsen, Wesley So, Ding Liren and Levon Aronian were seeded for the quarter-finals were they faced four qualifiers. Carlsen first won against Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, then scored a surprisingly clear win against So and then went on to defeat Aronian in the final.

7/10/2021 – While Garry Kasparov plays over-the-board blitz chess in Zagreb, Magnus Carlsen is in Pamplona promoting chess and playing a two-day knockout tournament. The rest of the participants are playing online. Besides the world champion, Wesley So, Ding Liren and Levon Aronian were seeded directly into the quarterfinals, where they face four winners of previous qualifying tournaments. Each match consists of 8 blitz games, played on the chess24 platform.