The first semi-final of Chess24's Banter Blitz Championship ended in a shutout, with Magnus Carlsen smoking Sanan Sjugirov 9-0. Very impressive. He will face the winner of the Alireza Firouzja vs. S.L. Narayanan match, which has just started. It can be seen on Chess24 or on YouTube (the direct link for the latter is here). Enjoy, and let's hope for a Carlsen-Firouzja match - nothing against Narayanan, but Firouzja is far more likely to be competitive, and it's a wonderful "Battle of the Generations" contest. (Sigh...when I started blogging, Carlsen was younger than Firouzja is now, and Firouzja was about a year old.)