The 2024 World Rapid Chess Championship kicked off yesterday in New York, with World No1 GM Magnus Carlsen as the top seed of the Open Championship.
GM Magnus Carlsen is aiming to defend both Rapid and Blitz titles this year in New York, but the first day of the Rapid Championship didn’t go as planned for the greatest of all time. After five played rounds, Carlsen is on 50%, scoring 2.5/5 points, and basically needs to be perfect in the remaining eight rounds to win gold at the 2024 World Rapid Championship.
Carlsen opened the event with Black pieces against GM Awonder Liang (USA, 2519 rapid rating) and a very solid game finished in a draw without chances for a better result. It seemed that the World Champion needed some time to warm up and he’d already shown different mood in the second round, defeating GM Denis Kadric (Montenegro, 2513 rapid rating) with a beautiful tactical maneuver.
But then again, the third round happened to be difficult for the Norwegian. He played against GM Dudin Gleb (Hungary, 2436 rapid rating) and got a clearly better position from the late middlegame. With some inaccuracies which are not that often seen in Carlsen’s play, the position went equal, when Magnus shockingly blundered with 35…Bc7? and entered a lost position. Eventually, Dudin missed his chance to score a win and the game finished in a draw.
In the fourth round, Carlsen took whites against GM Aleksandr Shimanov (FIDE, 2578 rapid rating) and again failed to score a win. For the most of the game, Magnus had a decisive advantage, but surprisingly blew it and even blundered in an endgame to get into a lost position. Not only that Carlsen showed bad play, he showed inconsistence in his play, which is quite unusual to see. With some luck, Magnus again drew and saved himself from a loss.
Carlsen showed frustration in the fifth round playing against 18-year-old GM Denis Lazavik (FIDE, 2553 rapid rating) and started to aggressively push the pawns weakening his Kingside. Lazavik didn’t panic and defended easily, eventually trapping Carlsen’s queen, winning the game without major efforts.
With three draws, one win and one loss in the event, Magnus Carlsen shocked his fans with a bad form and clumsy games. But nothing is yet lost if Magnus gets back into his shape for the final two days. Can the World Number 1 come back in the last eight rounds and still win the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship? We are about to see.
The first five games of Magnus Carlsen at the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2024 are shown below.
Round 1: GM Awonder Liang vs GM Magnus Carlsen 1/2-1/2
Round 2: GM Magnus Carlsen vs GM Denis Kadric 1-0
Round 3: GM Gleb Dudin vs GM Magnus Carlsen 1/2-1/2
Round 4: GM Magnus Carlsen vs GM Aleksandr Shimanov 1/2-1/2
Round 5: GM Denis Lazavik vs GM Magnus Carlsen 1-0
