Carlsen Reaches Winners Final Vs. Lazavik

GM Magnus Carlsen will play GM Denis Lazavik in the Division I Winners Final of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters. On day four, they respectively defeated GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Jose Martinez.

In the Losers Bracket of Division I, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi eliminated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while GM Alireza Firouzja knocked GM Wesley So out of the tournament. Nepomniachtchi faces Fedoseev, and Firouzja takes on Martinez, in the Losers Quarterfinals.

In Division II, GM Vladislav Artemiev is one of four players remaining in the Winners Bracket. On Saturday, he won the armageddon game to send GM Hikaru Nakamura to the Losers Bracket.

In Division III, GM Eltaj Safarli continues to impress. He's one of four players in the Winners Semifinals and will play three-time World Blitz Champion GM Alexander Grischuk next. 

Day five begins on Sunday, February 4, starting at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.

Division I Bracket

• Division I: 'I Prevailed, That Was More Or Less The Only Good Thing,' Says Carlsen
• Division II: Artemiev Knocks Down Nakamura
• Division III: Safarli Punctures The Petroff

Division I: 'I Prevailed, That Was More Or Less The Only Good Thing,' Says Carlsen

Vachier-Lagrave and So were the first players to be eliminated from Division I, though they still each earned $7,500 for making it to this stage. In the Winners Bracket, Lazavik has continued to shine and, as a reward, earns the pleasure of facing the "final boss of chess."

Winners Semifinals 

Fedoseev 2.5-2.5 Carlsen

The first half was a confident showing by the former world champion, but the wheels came off in the second half. After losing control, Carlsen righted the ship only in the armageddon game, which he drew with Black.

Carlsen's sole victory came after essaying the Lasker Variation (5.Qe2) of the Petroff Defense, a line that trades queens very early. It was a typical kind of win for the Norwegian grandmaster, who ground out the endgame to a full point. GM Rafael Leitao lets you in on all the details in the annotations below.

Fedoseev was not without chances, and in game two he had a winning position. The final chance is the most beautiful, as he could have sacrificed his knight for a rocket-fast passed pawn. Instead, it ended in a draw.

After a draw in game three, Carlsen looked a bit shaky in holding the final endgame, but the result seemed most likely to be a draw. As he was demonstrating resilient defense, he lost on time—an absolute shocker that left the commentators in "utter disbelief" (Hess). "My brain was fried at that point," said Carlsen, adding that he wasn't even sure he'd hold a rook and bishop vs. rook endgame if they had reached it.

 My brain was fried at that point.

—Magnus Carlsen

Still, he managed to draw the final armageddon game with Black—and was winning at a few points (and losing at one early on). It was a safe landing for a flight that hit unexpected, last-minute turbulence. After the match, an unsmiling Carlsen said: 

The games were pretty terrible in general. I mean, that's not a new take coming from me. Yeah, it was not good, but I prevailed. That was more or less the only good thing.

Martinez 0.5-2.5 Lazavik 

Day four was heartbreak for Martinez, who squandered a big chance in game one and then went down in flames, losing the next two battles.

The entire match could have gone differently if Martinez had converted the winning position he achieved. Instead, by missing a double attack in time trouble, the critical chance slipped through his hands like sand.

In a winning position, Martinez misses a double attack!

Crazy time trouble incoming!#ChessChamps #ChessableMasters pic.twitter.com/wah1LBSS8s

— chess24.com (@chess24com) February 3, 2024

After that, the 17-year-old took over. Lazavik showed that it's about pawn quality and not pawn quantity in game two (to paraphrase Hess). Then, the match came to a sudden close in game three as Martinez made a blunder with 25.Rg1??, immediately resigning after the next move. Can you find it? Black to move.

The teenager has now defeated Nakamura, GM Anish Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, and Martinez. As Carlsen put it: "He's defeated a murderer's row of players just to get here, so certainly not easy. I have to up my game a bit."

He's defeated a murderer's row of players just to get here.

—Magnus Carlsen

Losers Round 1

The matches in the Losers Bracket are just two games, not four. Nepomniachtchi won in the armageddon, while Firouzja clinched in the two regular games.

Division I Losers Bracket

Vachier-Lagrave 1-2 Nepomniachtchi

After losing a holdable but not trivial rook endgame, Nepomniachtchi won on demand with a blistering attack in game two. The game was capped off, fittingly, with a queen sacrifice, which tied the score.

Armageddon rarely lacks drama, and this one was no exception. Needing just a draw with Black, Vachier-Lagrave more or less held convincingly and was even winning. With under one minute, however, 48...Kf3?? turned day into night: a win became a loss. 

A big turnaround as Vachier-Lagrave goes from winning to losing in one move!

48...Kf3?? missed 49.g5! and Nepo's going to win on demand!#ChessChamps #ChessableMasters pic.twitter.com/eRp69PywLh

— chess24.com (@chess24com) February 3, 2024

Firouzja 1.5-0.5 So 

After being unable to break So's solid defense in the Queen's Gambit Declined, Firouzja won the second game with Black, clinching the match without an armageddon. 

The game featured a quick turnaround as the players got low on time. Although So tightened the vice of a slow Italian squeeze, one move spun it all around, and 28...h3 followed by 32...Bg2! must have been a cold shower.

Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi move on to the Losers Semifinals on Sunday, where they face Martinez and Fedoseev respectively.

Division II: Artemiev Knocks Down Nakamura

Artemiev is one of four players to make it into the Winners Semifinals. On his way, he defeated one of the favorites in his division. After four draws, in the armageddon he convincingly equalized with Black in the opening and then even played for the win. 

Black to move, can you find the most accurate continuation to finish off the world number-three?

Nakamura is down but not out. He has one more life left in the Loser's Bracket, where he plays GM Rauf Mamedov next.

You can find the full brackets and pairings for Division II here. 

Division III: Safarli Punctures The Petroff

Despite the rock-solid reputation of the Petroff, we saw another demolition job of this opening in Safarli vs. Aleksandar Indjic. The innocent blunder 18...c5?? essentially ended the game in one move after White found 19.Bxf7!. Safarli showed good technique after that:

Some fans might be confused as to how Grischuk defeated GM Jaime Santos Latasa without playing a single move. The latter failed to show up due to an over-the-board game, which he did manage to win.

You can find the full brackets and pairings for Division III here. 

The 2024 Chessable Masters is the first of its four events and determines one of the players who'll make it to the in-person CCT Finals. The event starts on January 31 at 11 a.m. ET/17:00 CET and features a $300,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• • Fedoseev, Martinez, Lazavik Prevail Against Top-20 Players
  • Lazavik Beats Nakamura 2-0; Dubov Plays Brilliancy
  • Martinez Wins Play-in On His Birthday
  • Faster And Fitter: Champions Chess Tour 2024 Returns With Chessable Masters