Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 7 (or 10?): Carlsen Wins

It was a well-contested match, but in the end your humble blogger's prediction was correct: Magnus Carlsen defeated by Wesley So by two points, winning the Banter Blitz 2020 final by a 5.5-3.5 score. The difference was a matter of converting chances: Carlsen squeezed out half points in "drawn" endings, while So failed to convert winning advantages in multiple games. (Three, to be precise.)

Carlsen got out to a 2-0 lead, despite having a lost position at many times in game 1 and nothing special in game 2, either. In that first game, Carlsen began with 1.f3 and 2.Kf2, which may have made his most rabid fans happy but is to my mind an extraordinarily disrespectful way to play. Someone may reply that this is the point, to which my reply is that there are more valuable things than in life than succeeding in this way. At any rate, So obtained a winning position, but let Carlsen slip...and then obtained a winning position again. Still later Carlsen had a winning position, which he let slip, and it looked like So was finally going to save the game - until he didn't. In game two, So was defending a slightly worse but eminently drawable rook ending, but Carlsen has won games like this many, many times in his career, and So faltered once again.

So had a winning advantage in game 3, but Carlsen slipped away once again, though he "only" managed to draw this time. Getting on the scoreboard was apparently all that So needed, and he won a clean game (by blitz standards) in game 4 to close to within a point.

Unfortunately for So, Carlsen won a clean game (again, by blitz standards) in reply, bringing the lead back to two points, but the violence continued as So won speedily in game 6. So had been better, but he didn't need to prove the advantage when Carlsen simply blundered a piece on move 24. The lead was back to a single point, and when So held with the black pieces in game 7 the momentum seemed to be on his side.

So came out of the opening of game 8 with a huge, definitely winning advantage, but he couldn't figure out how to take full advantage of it, and Carlsen escaped with a draw. That put Carlsen in striking distance of the finish line, and he took advantage of it. He had an opportunity to win the game relatively early on (30.f4 more or less won on the spot, as Black's knight on d4 is stranded), but he let So escape to an inferior but objectively drawn ending. (Not trivially drawn.) Carlsen was in his element, however, and So didn't have time to find the precise moves necessary to hold it, and Carlsen won the game, the match, and the tournament.

Congrats to both Carlsen and So, and for those of you desperate for the next event, you won't have to wait long: Norway Chess starts October 5 (on the web), and is a double round robin with Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, Duda, Firouzja, and Tari.

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 6: It's a Carlsen-So Final

Surprise! (Not.) Both Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen won their matches by commanding margins, though Carlsen at least had some anxious moments early on.

After five games, So led Le Quang Liem with an undefeated 4.5-1.5, and that was with Le saving at least two lost games. A quick bathroom break seemed to wreck his concentration at the start of game 7, when he mixed up his move order in the opening. He was worse with White, but managed to equalize before going nuts and losing. No matter: he recovered with a draw in game 8 to set up match (half-) point, and won game 9 to finish things off with a 6-3 score.

Carlsen got off to a brutal 0-2 start, missing tactical tricks along the way, but then he took over, leaving Levon far behind. (How long have I been waiting to use that line? A very, very long time.) He went 5.5-0.5 the rest of the way, and was never in trouble in any game. (In fact, Carlsen was winning game 6, which ended in the only draw of the match.)

The tournament concludes on Tuesday at 20:00 CEST (= 2 p.m. ET). Carlsen is obviously the favorite - only in blitz against Nakamura can one plausibly suggest anything else - but I think So has enough game to have a chance, if he's on form and Carlsen is a bit off. Otherwise, I'd go with Carlsen as a 2-3 point favorite.

Today's games can be accessed through this page, on the event website. (Scroll down and click on a game in the match tables.)

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 5: Carlsen, Le Quang Liem Advance **UPDATED With Match Times**

In what was no surprise at all, Magnus Carlsen steamrolled Anish Giri in the day's first match. He won the first three games before giving up a draw, and after winning game five he finally lost one game. No problem: he won game seven to finish things off with a 5.5-1.5 rout. Next up for Carlsen, a semi-final match with Levon Aronian.

The day's other quarterfinal match looked much less clear on paper, and so the result wasn't surprising, at least not to me. Le Quang Liem was the 2013 World Blitz Champion, and while Fabiano Caruana is the world's #2 in classical chess he rarely looks like a player of that caliber when it comes to blitz time controls. (I don't mean he's weak, obviously. But number two in the world in blitz? No way, not even close. On 2700chess.com, Caruana is #33 in blitz, at least if one only counts the world's top 100 in classical chess. Maybe he moves up or down a few spots in an online context, but at least at this point he's not competing at the same level as the world's best in blitz, most notably Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.)

Le got off to a good start, winning game three after a couple of mostly normal draws. Then everything went nuts. Le was really, really winning in both games 4 and 6, but Caruana somehow survived them. Caruana was winning in game 5 - and also had a momentary chance to win game 6 - but again, everything finished in a draw. Finally, Caruana broke through in game 7 and won, leveling the match at 3.5 points apiece. Maybe this would have broken a lesser player, ruing his missed chances, but it was no problem for Le: he won game 8 in good style. Caruana had a significant advantage in game 9 but let it slip, and some rickety play in the resulting ending gave Le the chance to put an end to the match - which he did. He'll have the pleasure of facing Wesley So in the other semi-final.

I haven't seen a time set for the So-Le semi yet, but Carlsen-Aronian is set for tomorrow (Saturday) at 21:00 CEST = 3 p.m. ET. I would expect a Carlsen-So final, but I think both Aronian and Le could put up a fight if they don't fall into an early hole. Still...make your plans for a Carlsen-So final on Sunday.

Event page here.

UPDATE: The So-Le match is set to start at 20:00 CEST = 2 p.m. ET, with Carlsen-Aronian pushed back half an hour from the original announcement to 21:30 CEST/3:30 p.m. ET.

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 4: Aronian, So Advance to the Semis

Both of today's matches were exciting battles, with comebacks, surprising twists, and in which the winner's identity was unclear almost to the very end.

First up, Levon Aronian vs. Alexander Grischuk. Aronian started off with a pair of wins, but no matter: Grischuk struck back with two wins of his own. Game 5 was drawn, and then things started to get weird. Grischuk was winning in game 6 but let it slip, but then Aronian made a remarkable blunder with more than enough time on his clock. Grischuk won and took a 3.5-2.5 lead, and when he achieved a winning advantage in game 7 it looked like he was on the way to an impressive comeback win. Nothing doing--he lost that game, and then collapsed. Aronian won a miniature in game 8 to take the lead, and won game 9 after a misjudged exchange sac by Grischuk to win the match, 5.5-3.5.

The match between Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was a drama in three acts. The first four games comprised the first act. All four games were drawn, but So missed more opportunities - especially in game 2, where he was winning on multiple occasions and for a while enjoyed an advantage so great that Vachier-Lagrave's failure to resign was almost incredible.

Act 2 was the low point for So. He had healthy though not decisive advantages in both games 5 and 6, but lost both games. With MVL up 4-2, things looked grim for the American. But then it was time for the third act...

Game 7 was headed for a draw. So was a pawn up, but in a very drawish rook ending. For a long time MVL held, but eventually his vigilance slipped and So managed to win. And with that, everything changed. In game 8 So obtained the advantage early on, and kept it, winning a good technical game.  In game 9 the Frenchman blundered in an equal position, and game 10 was...mostly a massacre. (See the analysis for details.) So won the last four games to finish with a 6-4 match victory.

In normal events, the schedule would suggest that So would play Aronian in one semi-final, but that's not how things work here. So will play the winner of tomorrow's match between Fabiano Caruana and Le Quang Liem, while Aronian will play Magnus Carlsen. (Or Anish Giri, in case Carlsen dies or his ISP is hit by a meteorite. C'mon, Anish, prove me wrong!)

Here are some of the games, mostly from the Aronian-Grischuk match, with brief comments. (Event website here.)

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 4 (Pre-Play Scheduling Update)

Since two of the matches' dates and times were still TBA/TBD when I summed up day 3, here's a heads-up on the quarter-final schedule: Grischuk-Aronian starts at the top of the coming hour (1 p.m. ET), and then So-MVL will start three hours later, at 4 p.m. ET. (The times for Carlsen vs. Giri and Caruana vs. Le Quang Liem remain the same--tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET, respectively.)

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 3

There was only one match today, as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Grigoriy Oparin battled for the last spot in the quarterfinals. As you'd expect, MVL won handily, 5.5-1.5, but the games were far more competitive than the score would suggest. Oparin probably had the better of the opening battles, and enjoyed a consistently winning advantage in game 5 (eventually drawn) and a completely winning advantage in game 6 (which he lost). There was also no need for him to lose either of the first two games, but blunders (typically in self-inflicted time trouble) throughout the match proved his undoing.

On to the quarters. As of this writing, the dates and times have been set for only two of the four matches. Carlsen-Giri and Caruana-Le Quang Liem are both set for Friday (September 25), with the first starting at 16:30 CEST and the latter at 20:00. The other two matches are Aronian-Grischuk and MVL-So. I wouldn't be surprised if Aronian-Grischuk gets set for tomorrow, so that there won't be an empty day on the tournament calendar, but that's just a guess.

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 2

Today's matches were mostly routs, but there was one glorious exception. All the first-round pairings involved seeded players facing off against qualifiers, and while the latter are all terrific players there's still a gap (with one exception; two [at least or especially in blitz], counting yesterday, when qualifier and 2013 World Blitz Champion Le Quang Liem upended Teimour Radjabov) between them and the creme de la creme of the world's elite.

There were five matches today: Levon Aronian vs. Gawain Jones, Anish Giri vs. Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen vs. S.L. Narayanan, Alexander Grischuk vs. Rauf Mamedov, and Fabiano Caruana vs. Matthias Bluebaum. Excepting the Giri-Svidler match - the one case where the qualifier (Svidler) is himself a member of the world elite, and indeed, the player whose overall career is still the more impressive one - the other four matches were blowouts, with the losing side collectively achieving only three wins. Carlsen won 5.5-.5 (obviously going undefeated), Aronian won 5.5-2.5 (Jones won one game), Grischuk won 5.5-1.5 (also undefeated), and Caruana dropped a couple of games to Bluebaum on the way to a 5.5-2.5 victory (he started off 3-0, and was never really threatened).

Giri-Svidler, by contrast, was a dream match. The first seven games were decisive, with White winning the first six before Svidler broke the string in game seven. After a couple of draws, Svidler only needed a draw in game 10 to clinch the match, but lost. Two further draws ensued, and then Giri won the Armageddon game with White to win the match 7-6. (Giri's wins in games 1, 3, and 13 are here.)

Tomorrow the last of the first-round matches takes place between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Grigoriy Oparin, and then the quarter-finals will look like this:

• Carlsen - Giri
• Aronian - Grischuk
• Caruana - Le Quang Liem
• So - MVL/Oparin

Website here.

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 1

We've had what, one day off? The glut of high-level online chess continues, albeit mostly for the super-elite. (Mere 2600 plebes can keep eking out their far less exalted living for the time being, before they're replaced in the food chain by a bunch of 13-14-year-olds.) Chess24's Banter Blitz Series Final started today and continues through Sunday as a 16-player knockout event. The first two knockout matches took place today (Monday), with Le Quang Liem winning the last three games to defeat Teimour Radjabov 6-4, while Wesley So won more quickly against Sam Shankland by a 5.5-2.5 margin (also winning the last three games).

Tomorrow's best-of-ten 3+2 blitz matches are, in temporal order, Levon Aronian vs. Gawain Jones, Anish Giri vs. Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen vs. S.L. Narayanan, Alexander Grischuk vs. Rauf Mamedov, and Fabiano Caruana vs. Matthias Bluebaum. The round of 16 ends with a single match on Wednesday between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Grigoriy Oparin.

More info here.