Magnus Carlsen reclaims World Rapid Chess Championship title after dramatic photo finish

The world’s No. 1 Magnus Carlsen regained his crown in the rapid chess format despite an uncharacteristic blunder on the last day of play, as every result went in his favor in the final round. After quickly dispatching in-form Parham Maghsoodloo to secure 10 points out of 14, the Norwegian only had to watch as Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave both played the role of spoilers.

Carlsen was a full point clear with four rounds to play at the start of day three of the event, which is why it was all the more surprising that the title was ultimately decided in such a dramatic fashion. After defeating Vincent Keymer to start off the day and reaching a comfortably even position with a lot of time on the clock against Vladislav Artemiev in the 11th round, Carlsen was almost home free. But he inexplicably made a one-move blunder with more than 10 minutes on the clock, scrambling the tournament standings with just two games left to be played.

After only clawing out a draw against Caruana in the penultimate round, Carlsen’s fate was in the chasing pack’s hands. None of the players managed to fully capitalize on his slip-ups, though, so it was a three-way tie for first place heading into the last round between him, Artemiev, and Keymer.

The pairings panned out well for the Norwegian: On board No. 1, he faced the in-form but lower-rated Maghsoodloo with the White pieces, while both his rivals got the Black pieces for the final round. Carlsen quickly secured victory with an explosive combination and a stylish bishop sacrifice, then watched to see whether he’d have to play tiebreakers or if he could get an outright victory.

It quickly became clear that Artemiev would not be able to match the pace. Falling behind on the clock and losing the initiative to Caruana, the Russian grandmaster fell victim to a vicious attack and lost in just 33 moves.

Over on the third table, it seemed like the title was destined to come down to a tiebreaker between Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, as the German youngster was playing at an extremely high level against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and steadily pressed his advantage into a dominant endgame of good knight against bad bishop. With an advantage on the clock as well, the victory seemed like a matter of technique after the rooks were traded off and the Black king invaded the middle of the board.

But in the critical moment, Keymer hesitated, and his time advantage quickly ticked away. At first, he made the correct decision to push his passed f-pawn further forward, but he did so again on the very next move, which gave White an impenetrable fortress after Bf1. After the smoke cleared, MVL always had the option to sacrifice his bishop for Keymer’s final pawn, which would lead to a draw by insufficient material. The German youngster played out a few more moves and then accepted his fate as Carlsen let out a huge sigh of relief.

Caruana’s late surge allowed him to finish third behind Carlsen and Keymer. His fellow Americans didn’t live up to the hype and the expectations: Hikaru Nakamura finished in 44^th place on 7.5 points, a steady stream of draws extinguishing his chances for the title. Hans Niemann ended the tournament on just six points out of 13, displaying an uneven mix of great skill and huge blunders throughout the event.

In the womens’ section, a tiebreaker had to separate Tan Zhongyi and Saduakassova Dinara, who both scored 8.5 points out of eleven. It was a similar story to Keymer’s, but with reverse colors: Saduakassova got a large advantage and a significant lead on the clock after just sixteen moves, but failed to find the way to convert and fully threw the game away. Pre-tournament favorite Alexandra Kosteniuk finished the event in ninth place, scoring eight points in total.

The World Rapid Championship was played in a 15+10 time format, meaning 15 minutes of starting time with 10 seconds added per move. After the three-day Rapid tournament is concluded, the World Blitz Championship follows in the same venue, which is a two-day affair with even faster time controls.