World champion Magnus Carlsen defeated Wesley So, 2.5-1.5, in the opening day of the rich Champion Chess Tour finals Friday in Toronto, Canada.
Day 2 of the best-of-four games match was underway with Carlsen hoping to stamp his World No. 1 ranking and win the title outright against So, using the rapid chess format with faster time controls of 15 minutes plus three-second increments.
Winning the second day of the final set for Carlsen is worth $200,000 and So has promised to bounce back and force a deciding winner-take-all. The runner-up is already assured of a bountiful $100,000.
After losing to So in the elimination round where the Filipino-American So topped ahead of seven other elite qualifiers heading into the four-man semifinals, Carlsen, the Norwegian juggernaut, exacted sweet vengeance, playing mind games to subdue So, who was born and raised in Cavite.
“I think Game 3 was all psychological. First, I offered a pawn on ‘e7.’ He didn’t take it,” Carlsen said. “The way I beat him is that, ‘I hustle him.’ I use his lack of aggression,” added the 33-year-old from Oslo, who sealed the win in the fourth game, where So failed to convert his positional advantage with the black pieces in a Sicilian Alapin.
Carlsen was referring to the third match, the only game that he won, with the first two games ending in draws. Carlsen played a seldomly used ancient line in the Sicilian — a pawn push on ‘a6’ on the second move — popularized by a lesser-known Russian master, Boris Katalimov in the 1950s.
A few moves later, Carlsen was able to transpose to ideas in the “Dragon” variation and achieved equality. With both sides having queening pawns on both flanks of the board, So missed a key move on the 55th that would have forced a draw. Instead, Carlsen created another passed pawn that gave him the win.
“I underestimated his ‘g5’ business,” So said. “It was practically difficult with seconds on the clock. I think my play was generally okay but my time management was not,” added the 30-year-old So, three years Carlsen’s junior.
The win extended Carlsen’s dominance of So, whom he has beaten 32 times while losing 17 in previous meetings. Their 42 other games have ended in draws.
So, who has admittedly been struggling with his first opening move of “e4” and has been apprehensive against his nemesis Carlsen, played the seldomly-used “b3,” Nimzo-Larsen attack in his first game. It was the same opening repertoire that he used to beat and equalize against his semifinals opponent Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Carlsen, who has never played “b3” in tournaments, came prepared and forced a theoretical draw despite a pawn down in the endgame.
