Carlsen Wins the Leuven Leg of the Grand Chess Tour
Magnus Carlsen fans, it's like the good old days all over again. Magnus Carlsen flattened the field in the blitz portion of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) event in Leuven, Belgium, overcoming the three point lead Wesley So had after the rapid games on Wednesday through Friday. Carlsen went 7.5/9 on Saturday and 7/9 on Sunday, finishing a whopping three points ahead of So, who took second overall. Having won the GCT tournament in Paris the week before, Carlsen is clearly leading the Tour overall.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave only lost to Carlsen in a tiebreak in Paris, and here too he was in the running for a while. He faltered down the homestretch, however, and not only failed to keep up with Carlsen, but also failed to catch up to a struggling So. Still, MVL's third place performance here puts him in second in the overall GCT standings. So is third overall, and the full standings can be found here.
As for Leuven, here are the standings for the blitz followed by the combined totals:
Final Blitz Standings:
1. Carlsen 14.5/18
2-3. Giri, Vachier-Lagrave 10 (N.B.: Only Anish Giri managed to defeat Carlsen in the blitz - this was on Saturday - and he held him to a draw on Sunday as well.)
4-5. Kramnik, Aronian 9.5
6. Nepomniachtchi 9
7-8. Ivanchuk, So 8.5
9. Anand 8
10. Jobava 2.5 (N.B. His tournament was a complete disaster. He only drew one game in rapid, only drew one game on Saturday, and even on Sunday he only managed 2/9, though he at least won one game, against Kramnik. He was worse and even losing most of the way, but considering how many good and even winning positions he gave away in the other games, he can hardly be begrudged his single lucky win.)
Overall Standings:
1. Carlsen 25.5 (out of 36)
2. So 22.5
3. Vachier-Lagrave 22
4. Giri 20
5-6. Kramnik, Aronian 18.5
7. Nepomniachtchi 18
8. Anand 16
9. Ivanchuk 15.5
10. Jobava 3.5
Can Carlsen reproduce these fine results in his next classical tournament? We'll see what happens in the Sinquefield Cup, which starts at the end of the month. For now, he can enjoy his insanely high rapid (2909) and blitz (2948) ratings. Most grandmasters, even very strong ones, would fantasize about having a single event TPR in the 2900s; for Carlsen, that's his overall rating. Ridiculous! (In a good way.)