Caruana Is King Of Armageddon On Day 1, Leads With Carlsen, Wesley So

GMs Wesley So, Magnus Carlsen, and Fabiano Caruana won two matches to stay on a perfect score in the 2023 Champions Chess Tour Finals. This is the first of the eight-day Finals held in Toronto, Canada. 

It was a smooth day for So, who notably defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura in the first round. Carlsen also had a comfortable start, beating the two youngsters GMs Denis Lazavik and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Caruana, however, had to win two armageddon games, against French number-two GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and number-one GM Alireza Firouzja, to stay on a perfect score.

Rounds three and four of the round-robin begin on Sunday, December 10, at 12 p.m. ET / 18:00 CET / 22:30 p.m. IST.

Standings | Round-Robin

• Venue, Pre-match Activities, & Format
• Round 1: So Repeats Toronto Success, Caruana Triumphs In Armageddon
• Round 2: Three Armageddons, Caruana Wins Match Of The Day

Venue, Pre-match Activities, & Format

The tournament takes place at the 1 Hotel, the same venue as the 2022 Global Chess Championship last year. So won that event after defeating GM Nihal Sarin in the Final.

The players arrived at the hotel days before the tournament started. They participated in photo shoots and video interviews, signed chessboards, received gifts, and even participated in a poutine competition.

This year, there is a watch party with the Chessbrahs on December 15 and 16 across the street. Fans can buy tickets to hang out with their favorite streamers and watch their favorite players.

Wanna hang out with @chessbrahTV and watch the CCT Finals in Toronto? Now's your chance!

Tickets: https://t.co/P46YaPfML4 pic.twitter.com/L5cI0unWg8

— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) November 17, 2023

The Champions Chess Tour has a novel format this year, with an eight-player round-robin that's followed by a Survival Stage that leads into the Semifinals and then finally the Title Match.

We'll talk about the later stages when we get to them, but for now let's just focus on the round-robin. It is an all-play-all with two 15+3 games per match. Nobody will be eliminated until Tuesday, December 12, when the round-robin stage ends.

You can read more about the individual players, how they made it to the Finals, and their chances of winning in this article.

Here are your 2023 CCT Finalists 🏆 #CCTFinals

👇🏻 Rest of the players in the replies pic.twitter.com/nxJPFp4Tti

— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) December 8, 2023

An important difference between this tournament and last year's Global Chess Championship is that the games are played on chessboards and not on the computer; the games are FIDE-rated in rapid and count toward the FIDE Circuit.

Round 1: So Repeats Toronto Success, Caruana Triumphs In Armageddon

So should have great memories from Toronto after winning the CGC last year, and he's also busy making new ones. Carlsen, Caruana, and Firouzja also won their matches in round one.

Nakamura 0.5-1.5 So

Nakamura surely arrived in Canada looking for revenge against So. In 2022, the Filipino-American GM won their semifinal match in the same hotel on his way to becoming the inaugural global chess champion.

It was also Nakamura's 36th birthday. But, superstitiously, this can either be a gift or a curse—and often is the latter.

Cheers to another trip around the sun for the one who makes my world brighter! Happy birthday @GMHikaru! Let's make it epic! 🚀🔥🥰🎂🎁 pic.twitter.com/Q1ukIwu5ZA

— Atousa Pourkashiyan آتوسا پورکاشیان (@AtousaChess) December 9, 2023

Nakamura overreached in the first game by declining a threefold repetition that he could have forced. A few moves later, realizing he, in fact, had no checkmate, he resigned.

After pushing too hard in the previous game, Nakamura then had to win on demand with Black. He played a Benoni, but only So could claim an advantage out of the opening. In a winning position two pawns up and about to be three, So acquiesced to a draw, which was good enough to win the match.

Carlsen 1.5-0.5 Lazavik

Carlsen, the favorite in just about any matchup, was up against the tournament's underdog Lazavik, the 17-year-old whom our statisticians predicted to have a 0% chance of winning the event.

The Belarusian teenager held his own with Black for most of the first game, but then Carlsen cast the signature endgame magic he's renowned for.

The former world champion gave absolutely no chances in the second game, which he drew with Black in 27 moves. That was enough for his first match win.

Caruana 2-1 Vachier-Lagrave

It hasn't been long since these two played over the board. At the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, which Caruana won at the end of November, they made a draw in round three.

All three games were decisive. Caruana converted a pawn-up endgame in the first one but then fell victim to a creative sacrifice by Vachier-Lagrave in the second game. 

This was the only match to reach armageddon, which Caruana ultimately won with Black. He later said: "It was a very, very intense match.... I was lucky that the opening went very well. So usually, I think if the opening goes badly, then you don't have much of a chance."

MVL's notes leaked before Armageddon 😹 #CCTFinals pic.twitter.com/xQWR9m8JHj

— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 9, 2023

With nine minutes and 52 seconds for Caruana against White's 15 minutes, the former nevertheless got an advantage out of the opening and won the game—needing only a draw.

Abdusattorov 0.5-1.5 Firouzja 

The youngest matchup of the round was, surprisingly, also the calmest relatively speaking. Only the second game was decisive.

The first one, with Abdusattorov playing White, was a draw in the Berlin endgame. In game two, Firouzja drummed up a decisive attack in an Italian Opening, even though the players had equal material.

28.Nxg7! was a satisfying finisher. After 28...Kxg7 29.Nf5+ followed by 30.Rg3+, Black was forced to sacrifice his queen.

💥 28.Nxg7! from Alireza!#CCTFinals pic.twitter.com/kjIStFzPMM

— chess24.com (@chess24com) December 9, 2023

Round 2: Three Armageddons, Caruana Wins Match Of The Day

The second round may have had a slower start, but it ended with three armageddon games.

Carlsen 2-1 Abdusattorov

The Uzbek prodigy has shown that he can beat Carlsen in the past, both in rapid chess and in classical. In 2021, he became the world rapid champion after sensationally beating Carlsen, and he went on to defeat the world number-one in classical chess at the beginning of the next year.

After two sterile draws, we reached armageddon. Abdusattorov got the black pieces, but the bigger story is that Carlsen put up a high bid of 10 minutes and 28 seconds, showing that he wanted to play White. Carlsen won on demand after applying pressure in a position the computer claimed was equal but that the commentators said was uncomfortable for Black.

After the game, Carlsen said: "You shouldn't always bid low; it's a bad strategy to be completely consistent in your bids." The former world champion, who's had slow starts in the past but not here, pointed out: "The good thing for me is that I felt very, very calm playing."

Nakamura 1-2 Vachier-Lagrave

A draw in the first game was perhaps a karmically fair result. Nakamura was winning out of the opening, but after complications, it was later Vachier-Lagrave who was suddenly up two pawns. With under 20 seconds, the French GM blundered a piece but was able to draw the game with his extra pawns.

The second game was a Petroff draw in 17 moves, which meant armageddon.

The players burst out laughing when told that they had bid the exact same number. The second time around, Nakamura earned the black pieces with nine minutes 39 seconds.

It was another painful birthday disaster for Nakamura, who was within reach of a draw but hallucinated something as he dropped a piece in the endgame.

Caruana 2-1 Firouzja

"I'm not opposed to an open fight, so that's probably what we'll get," said Caruana about this match just after winning his last. Be careful what you wish for!

The French number-one won an excellent game one on the black side of the Italian Opening. It featured a piece sacrifice followed by an exchange sacrifice—it doesn't often get better than that. "He just destroyed Fabiano in that game!" said Hess afterward, while Howell immediately dubbed it the "game of the tournament so far!"

Sachdev called our Game of the Day a "flawless attack." GM Rafael Leitao shares his detailed notes below.

"I think experience helps a lot. I don't get overly emotional when I lose the first game of a match anymore," said the American GM after the match. He showed incredible resilience to win the queen endgame on demand in game two—with Black.

Caruana won the black pieces by bidding just one second less than his opponent, nine minutes and 58 seconds. If Firouzja earned the Game of the Day in their first encounter, Hess said that Caruana played the "move of the day" in the armageddon.

23...Re1!! is a beautiful deflection tactic. If the rook is taken with 24.Rxe1, Nd3! wins the queen. After 24.Qd2, Caruana traded and was simply up the exchange.

"The move of the day," according to Robert Hess! Caruana's about to turn this match around after losing the first game!#CCTFinals pic.twitter.com/owbrAS1tBs

— chess24.com (@chess24com) December 9, 2023

Lazavik 0.5-1.5 So

So was the only player to win without needing an armageddon game.

The first game was a Berlin, but a sharper one with opposite-sides castling. The American GM ultimately ground out a heavy piece endgame, and the highlight was the temporary queen sacrifice to win a pawn.

Now that's a fancy way of winning a pawn!#CCTFinals pic.twitter.com/3TaahKDLYy

— chess24.com (@chess24com) December 9, 2023

He made a comfortable draw in game two, agreeing to peace on move 21 in a position that's probably just winning.

There will be another two rounds on Sunday. The most exciting pairing, of course, will be between two leaders, Carlsen and Caruana, who had played a world championship match back in 2018. 

The 2023 Champions Chess Tour Finals (CCT Finals) is the closing event of the Champions Chess Tour, Chess.com's most important event to date. The players meet in Toronto, Canada, in a thrilling last clash for the title. The Finals start on December 9 at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET/22:30 IST and feature a $500,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• GothamChess And Danya Predict Who Will Win The Champions Chess Tour 2023
• 7 Reasons You Should Watch The Champions Chess Tour Finals
• Don't Miss Chess.com's Biggest Prediction Contest Of The Year
• $500,000 Champions Chess Tour Finals To Be Played Live In Toronto