Champions' League - Part 1

Well, not the Champion League (like the Chess.com league) but a double round-robin tournament between the Chess.com bots of four former world champions. This is a six round tournament that literally pits the best against the best.

Note: If you're wondering, this tournament was played a while ago and, in particular, before Kramnik's bot was removed from Chess.com.

Meet the contestants:

1. 14th World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)

Peak Rating: 2817

Chess.com bot rating: 2820

World Chess Championships Won: 2000 (vs Kasparov), 2004 (vs Leko), 2006 (vs Topalov)

2. 15th World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand (IND)

Peak rating: 2817

Chess.com bot rating: 2820

World Chess Championships Won: 2007, 2008 (vs Kramnik), 2010 (vs Topalov), 2012 (vs Gelfand)

3. 16th World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen (NOR)

Peak rating: 2882

Chess.com bot rating: 2882

World Chess Championships Won: 2013 (vs Anand), 2014 (vs Anand), 2016 (vs Karjakin), 2018 (vs Caruana), 2021 (vs Nepomniachtchi)

4. 17th World Chess Champion Ding Liren (CHN)

Peak rating: 2816

Chess.com bot rating: 2788

World Chess Championships Won: 2023 (vs Nepomniachtchi)

Alright, now time for the games:

Round 1

Game 1: Kramnik vs Anand 0.5-0.5

Our first game is between Kramnik and Anand. Pieces quickly traded down, leading to a drawn position. While Kramnik was up two pawns for much of the endgame, Anand was easily able to defend.

Game 2: Ding vs Carlsen 0-1

In our second game of this round, Carlsen gradually chips away at Ding's defense until a breakthrough is achieved in the endgame.

Round 2

Game 1: Carlsen vs Kramnik 1-0

Another smooth game by Carlsen. Kramnik makes a mistake in the early middlegame, which immediately leads to a loss of material.

Game 2: Anand vs Ding 1-0

Another middle game slipup leads to an immediate response. So far, this feels like the most unlikely mistake that the corresponding real player would make.

Round 3

Game 1: Ding vs Kramnik 1-0

This game was a wild game where White was never in trouble but had many chances to win, missing most of them. However, Ding ultimately swept up the game in the endgame.

Game 2: Carlsen vs Anand 0.5-0.5

This was a very even game; neither player gained much of an advantage. This game would've been much shorter if draws by agreement had existed.

I'll cover the second half of the double-round robin in the next blog post (when I feel like it because it takes a lot of work). Current rankings:

1. Carlsen - 2.5/3

2. Anand - 2/3

3. Ding - 1/3

4. Kramnik - 0.5/3