Carlsen Back In The Lead: Oslo Esports Cup Day 6
GMs Magnus Carlsen and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa once again share the lead with 12 points after the penultimate day of play. They are followed closely by GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Le Quang Liem, both with 11 points. Behind them, we find GM Jorden van Foreest with nine points and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with eight.
GM Anish Giri follows with six points and GM Eric Hansen—with three so far—remains the last player in the standings.
Duda-Praggnanandhaa: 2.5-0.5
The Indian grandmaster started off his day still being three points ahead of the others, but Duda chose some off-beat moves in the opening and went for a tricky line for Black in game one, after which a fresh position with new ideas arose. Duda was finally too strong for Praggnanandhaa in a very complex endgame position and went on to win the game.
The same story repeated itself in their second game, which Duda won again. Thus, game three was decisive for the 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa as he needed to win it together with the fourth one to force the playoffs and still have some hope to win the match.
Game three ended in a draw by repetition, initiated by Duda, who finally went on to gift himself a late birthday present after his painful loss to Le yesterday. The Polish GM earned three points for this strong performance against his opponent and will face Hansren tomorrow, the last day of the event.
Carlsen-Hansen: 2.5-0.5
The last-place player in the standings had to face the world's number one today. Both players surely had ambitions, especially Carlsen, who wanted to succeed today to still have chances to win the Oslo Esports Cup.
Game one between them was decided by a blunder by Black, 25...Kh8??. With the very simple idea of opening and thus controlling the f-file with the heavy pieces, the world champion went on to straightforwardly win game one of their match.
Game two was a draw and therefore game three became crucial for the Canadian streamer who needed to at least hold this game to get a chance to win the fourth one and force tiebreaks against the Norwegian. This didn't transpire as Carlsen wrapped up the match by winning his second game of the day.
On his upcoming match tomorrow, the world champion commented that he just wanted "to play a good match tomorrow," as "the last couple of days have been great" once his health recovered. About his opponent—even if he wasn't having his best tournament—he added: "Mamedyarov can be very dangerous on every given day."
Le-Giri 2.5-0.5
Le continued his winning streak today after winning three points and climbing further up in the standings, now having chances to place in the leading spots of the tournament. His opponent—the Dutchman Giri—experienced serious trouble again with the handling of his mouse. In the first game of their match, he unexpectedly castled queenside, which was a very bad choice as it gave White every chance to attack his king.
"I do something wrong with dragging and clicking on the pieces. The same happened to me with Jorden (yesterday) ... It was just an insane mouse slip. I was devastated at first, but I’m getting used to the punches in this event."
He did indeed receive more punches from the former blitz world champion as he also lost the second game, and a draw in game three was agreed upon after 33 moves although Le had a winning position.
The Dutchman is now very behind in the standings but will have to try his best tomorrow against Praggnanandhaa.
Penultimate round today. The show starts at 17:45 CET. pic.twitter.com/mpJ5u0n5Ef
— Liem Le (@LiemChess) April 27, 2022
The Vietnamese grandmaster confidently went on to win his match today.
Mamedyarov-Van Foreest: 3.5-2.5
This match was probably the most nerve-consuming of the day—for both the players and the viewers—as Van Foreest gave away several won positions and allowed Mamedyarov to make a comeback today.
Game one of their match ended in an unexpected draw, while in the second one, the Dutchman managed to get a full point. Game number three was again a draw, and in the fourth one, Azerbaijan's number one scored a full point. Thus, the players were tied at 2-2 and had to decide the outcome of their match in the tiebreaks.
In the first game, Van Foreest decided to have White, but this only brought him a draw, while Mamedyarov managed to strike back with the black pieces to win the match. Van Foreest won one point from the tiebreaks, Mamaedyarov two.
A visibly tired van Foreest described his unnecessary loss in the match as “a bit frustrating, as I had very good positions, and the fourth game, I shouldn’t have lost it.” He optimistically added: “It’s been a good match and I take it as a learning experience.” In the last day of the event, Van Foreest will play against Le.
Oslo Esports Cup Day 6 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Pts |
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | 2851 | 12 | |
| 2 | Praggnanandhaa, R. | 2685 | 12 | |
| 3 | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2769 | 11 | |
| 4 | Le, Quang Liem | 2765 | 11 | |
| 5 | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2744 | 9 | |
| 6 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2724 | 8 | |
| 7 | Giri, Anish | 2759 | 6 | |
| 8 | Hansen, Eric | 2651 | 3 |
All Games Day 6
The Champions Chess Tour consists of six regular events with 16 players and three majors with eight players. Regular events adopt a 3-1-0 score, where players who win get three points, players who draw get 1, and losers get 0. Major events, on the other hand, adopt a 3-2-1-0 score system, similar to the 3-2-1 system described above but with one difference: players who win on tiebreaks get 2 points while tiebreak losers get 1.
The Oslo Esports Cup is the first major of the tour: a round-robin among eight players, with each round consisting of four-game matches (15|10) each day which advance to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks in case of a tie.
The 2022 Champions Chess Tour's first Major, the Oslo Esports Cup, runs April 22-28 on chess24. The format consists of one four-game match every day for each player. Play advances to blitz (5+3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black has four with no increment) tiebreaks only if a match ends in a tie. The total prize fund for the event is $210,000, with each win in the regular games earning the player $7,500. Each win in the tiebreaks earns the winner $5,000, with $2,500 going to the loser.
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