Champions Chess Tour Finals: Carlsen Wins All Matches
GM Magnus Carlsen finished the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in style as he also won his seventh and final match, against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The world champion scored a stunning 20/21, seven points more than runner-up GM Wesley So.
The games of the Champions Chess Tour Finals can be found here as part of our live events platform.
Earlier in the tournament, the Carlsen-Duda pairing in the final round was a mouth-watering perspective. In the last few rounds the Polish grandmaster ran out of steam, giving Carlsen the chance to secure tournament victory with a round to spare. This was an advantage for the winner who said: "Today was just a pleasure to play, knowing I had it in the bag and I could just relax."
Carlsen was critical of his two white games, where he didn't show his best chess but got away with two draws. Because he had won the second game as Black, he needed only a draw in game four but tried to win it anyway.
"There was a moment in the last game where, after he went for 39.Bb2 I was thinking, 39...Nxe3+ followed by 40...Nc4 was an immediate draw, but then I thought, you know, it's the last game of the season. Let's try and end on a high note, but I didn't really manage to convert it so I had to force a draw, but then he had to go for a draw, of course, but what he did just lost instead."
As the winner of the Finals, Carlsen claimed a "bonus" first prize of $50,000 in San Francisco. Together with his first place in the overall standings, the world champion collected $242,400 in total Tour earnings, while his opponent Duda won $162,500 for second place.
So cannot be found in the Tour leaderboard (see below) as he played in only the Finals, where his second place was good for $32,500. He ended up losing his last match to GM Anish Giri but because his main rivals also lost, So kept his second place.
"It was a very fun match," said So, after a battle that had gone the full seven games, including an armageddon where he had the white pieces. "I think we both played very solidly in the rapid format, but in the blitz the games were very 'interesting' [laughs] and also in the armageddon, it was back and forth, crazy. I was trying to flag him, but it didn't work out."
Giri: "Today I've accomplished all of my goals. First of all, I didn't lose the match in three games; secondly, I played one good game; and third, the goal I couldn't even have dreamt of: that I won the match. It's true redemption for me."
Here's the armageddon game, which saw a crazy time-scramble:
The all-Indian match between GM Praggnanandhaa R. and GM Arjun Erigaisi was won by the two-year-younger Pragg. Both won a game, and one ended in a draw before Erigaisi was tricked in the opening in game four.
"He fell for this trap with 12...c5 13.Rxa6! which is supposed to be very bad for Black," knew Praggnanandhaa. "This exchange sac is very good compensation, and it's almost close to winning for White."
GM Le Quang Liem ended in fourth place in both the overall Tour and the Finals. In the final round, the Vietnamese GM beat GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov three times versus one loss. The first game saw a fascinating, study-like final phase:
Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Score | Earnings |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2848 | 20 | $50,000 | |
| 2 | Wesley So | 2774 | 13 | $32,500 | |
| 3 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2798 | 10 | $27,500 | |
| 4 | Le Quang Liem | 2775 | 11 | $25,000 | |
| 5-6 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2733 | 9 | $22,500 | |
| 5-6 | Praggnanandhaa R. | 2750 | 9 | $22,500 | |
| 7-8 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2756 | 6 | $15,000 | |
| 7-8 | Anish Giri | 2732 | 6 | $15,000 |
All games day 7
Final Tour Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Earnings | # | Fed | Name | Earnings |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | $242,500 | 9 | Ding Liren | $50,500 | ||
| 2 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | $162,500 | 10 | Jorden van Foreest | $38,000 | ||
| 3 | Praggnanandhaa R. | $129,000 | 11 | Alireza Firouzja | $37,500 | ||
| 4 | Le Quang Liem | $123,000 | 12 | Wesley So | $32,500 | ||
| 5 | Anish Giri | $89,250 | 13 | Richard Rapport | $29,500 | ||
| 6 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | $80,500 | 14 | Wei Yi | $27,750 | ||
| 7 | Levon Aronian | $63,000 | 15 | Eric Hansen | $26,250 | ||
| 8 | Arjun Erigaisi | $62,250 | 16 | Vincent Keymer | $24,000 |
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals took place November 14-20, 2022 on chess24. The format was an eight-player round-robin; each round had four-game rapid matches, and the winner got three points. The time control was 15 minutes for each game plus a 10-second increment. A tiebreak followed immediately in case of a 2-2 tie and in that case, the winner got two points and the loser, one.
Previous coverage:
- Carlsen Wins Champions Chess Tour Finals With Round To Spare
- Carlsen On Brink Of Victory After Armageddon Win
- Carlsen Leads Alone On Perfect 12/12
- Duda Wins Brilliant Game In Champions Chess Tour Finals
- Champions Chess Tour Finals: Carlsen, Duda Lead The Pack
- Carlsen Beats So As Champions Chess Tour Finals Begin In San Francisco
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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