The Top Five Standout Moments From The 2024 Champions Chess Tour

The Champions Chess Tour kicks off its 2025 schedule on February 16 with the Chessable Masters. Before it begins, let's take a look back at the most memorable moments from the 2024 edition and see what we may have to look forward to this year.

• Caruana's Miniature
• Magnus Misses Mate
• Amazing Opening Ideas
• Firouzja's Big Comeback
• The King Stays The King

Caruana's Miniature

Imagine beating one of the best players in the world in a tournament game in only nine moves. It almost never happens, but GM Fabiano Caruana pulled it off against GM Alireza Firouzja, sacrificing both rooks in the process!

Firouzja took it in stride and came back to win the match!

Magnus Misses Mate

GM Magnus Carlsen has a strong argument as the greatest chess player in history, but he's still human. In a tense match with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen missed a chance for a quick knockout. See if you can find it.

Magnus is a genius and managed to eventually win anyway. Check out the shocked commentators.

😱 Maxime allows a mate in two, and Magnus misses it!

"That move was worth $50,000," says Tania, as this move could have eliminated MVL then and there.https://t.co/H57RJg99Gr#CCTFinals pic.twitter.com/YvS9JNVCco

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 20, 2024

Amazing Opening Ideas

In the old days, most top players would avoid critical lines in rapid chess and save them for the biggest classical tournaments. Nowadays, most players take rapid and blitz seriously and often prefer to use their big novelties there, where the limited time on the clock makes it extremely difficult for the opponent to defend. Caruana's 10.g4!!? against GM Vincent Keymer was a spectacular example!

Caruana's 10.g4! has to be a contender for move of the year. What. A. Move. pic.twitter.com/tKHNghuuez

— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) October 2, 2024

Check out the full game with notes by GM Rafael Leitão. 

Firouzja's Big Comeback

Magnus Carlsen dominates most of the CCT events that he plays in, but Firouzja is the best at dragging Carlsen into unclear positions and giving himself chances to win. In the 2024 Chess.com Classic, Firouzja emerged from the Loser's Bracket, which meant that he had to defeat Carlsen in two consecutive matches to win the tournament. It seemed all but over after he fell behind 2-1 in their first match. Carlsen reached his trademark better endgame but made one uncharacteristic mistake, and Firouzja's 40.Rg3 completely swung the game in the other direction.

After that bit of good fortune, Firouzja also won the next game, winning his first match against Carlsen. He convincingly won the final match as well and won the tournament. Firouzja was actually the first player in history to enter the Tour's final ahead of Carlsen and play as the top seed of the CCT Finals.

The King Stays The King

Despite great performances by Firouzja, Vachier-Lagrave, and others, Carlsen remains the star of the CCT. He has won the tour every year since its inception in 2020. This year's finals were never in doubt. Carlsen won the initial round-robin stage with 6/7 match wins. He won all of his matches the rest of the way to take clear first place for the fifth year in a row! He ended the finals with 13 wins, 11 draws, and just three losses. A dominant performance!

Carlsen left no room for drama in the finals.  In the first game, Nepomniatchi missed one brilliant opportunity to draw the game. After that, Carlsen won the match in brutal fashion, with a 4-1 score.

Do you think Carlsen will win again in 2025, or will someone unseat him and win the championship? Let us know in the comments!