Wesley So (left) makes a move against Norwegian chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. —AFP
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen completed his revenge over Filipino-American grandmaster Wesley So after posting a 2-0 sweep of their quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday night in the Lindores Abbey Rapid Chess Challenge.
Playing in the second leg of the online chess tour held in his honor, the Norwegian star found no excuse to lose. Especially not to the same guy who beat him for the World Fischer Random Chess Championships right in his homeland in Oslo last year.
But the reigning champion in all three chess disciplines was magnanimous in his victory.
“I do think the score is a little bit heavier than it probably could have been, but clearly I did better at the critical moment. So that’s the important thing,” he told chess24.com.
Carlsen will battle in the semifinals American Hikaru Nakamura, who also scored a 2-0 shut out of his quarterfinal matchup against Levon Aronian of Armenia.
Nakamura, one of the top blitz players around, thus setup a repeat of his final duel against Carlsen in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational tourney.
Carlsen, who won Day 1 over So, snared two wins on Tuesday night on black pieces for a 2.5-.5 decision.
So resigned after 61 moves after a Carlsen onslaught that started when he sacrificed a knight to expose the white king (Nxg2).
“I felt intuitively that black should be doing pretty well here, since his king is getting so weak, no pun intended,” Carlsen.
After halving the point in the second match, Carlsen clinched the semis berth with another solid win in the third match.
“I’ve gotta say that the last game was just ridiculous mess I had very little clue of what was going on,” he said. “I felt like I was doing
pretty well early on and then at some point the wheels came off and I might as well have been lost.”
The Magnus Carlsen Tour, exclusive for the top chess players in the world, will run periodically until the Grand Final in August, which is worth $300,000.