5 Things We Learned — CrunchLabs Masters 2024

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave just won Division I of the CrunchLabs Masters 2024 on Wednesday, while GM Alexander Grischuk won Division II and GM Arjun Erigaisi Division III. We'll go over the five biggest takeaways from the third leg, of four, of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour.

1. Vachier-Lagrave Finds His Form
2. Winning In 9 Moves Isn't Enough For Caruana
3. Time Is Ticking To Qualify For Finals
4. Grischuk's Still Got It, Wins Division II From Losers Bracket
5. Arjun Has 2 Bad Days, Still Wins Division III 

1. Vachier-Lagrave Finds His Form

Vachier-Lagrave has been an incumbent in the world's elite for well over a decade. He earned his grandmaster title 19 years ago and broke into the world top-10 in 2014; he is one of 14 players to cross a 2800 rating. In recent years, however, he's dropped out of the top-10 in classical chess, dropping down to number-21 on the live rating list.

In rapid chess, however, he's still world number-eight, and he's proven to be one of the most dangerous players in the Champions Chess Tour. After defeating GM Alireza Firouzja in two matches without losing a single game, he said that he's starting to feel his form again, ever since the Superbet Romania Chess Classic weeks ago. He shared:

It's coming back, my openings are finally getting better, giving the black side some more trouble... I was getting like no advantage with White for like the past year or so, so finally I was putting pressure. When you get positions you're more comfortable with, then it's much easier to just enjoy playing and to calculate better.

He's also now defeated GM Magnus Carlsen three times in the last two seasons and qualified for the CCT Finals two years in a row, reminding us that he's still very much one of the most capable players in the world.

2. Winning In 9 Moves Isn't Enough For Caruana

GM Fabiano Caruana beat Firouzja in just nine moves in their first match of Division I, but Firouzja flipped the script when he won the match anyway. The dominant story was not his embarrassing loss to a known opening trap but, instead, his recovery. Still, it's worth looking at the full, short game below if you haven't already:

Firouzja said that he saw his opponent was laughing after his blunder 8...Bxh1??, and it only motivated him to strike back harder. Despite losing in the Grand Final, he has still earned more tour points and dollars than any other player this season.

Caruana just hasn't found his flow in the CCT yet this year. In the last two events, he struggled in the Play-ins and only made it to Division I for the first time in the CrunchLabs Masters. The achievement was evanescent, however, as he lost both matches he played, against Firouzja and then GM Wesley So.

3. Time Is Ticking To Qualify For Finals

Time is running out for players to qualify for the in-person Finals at the end of the year. There is one event left in the CCT regular season, one last chance to qualify. Firouzja, Carlsen, and Vachier-Lagrave are in the Finals already, so GM Ian Nepomniachtchi leads the tour standings.

The winners of the CCT events qualify for the Finals, featuring eight players. The remaining spots are given to the players with the most tour points, so if the regular season ended today, the following players would make the cut: GMs Nepomniachtchi, Vincent Keymer, So, Denis Lazavik and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Nakamura and Caruana made it to the Finals last year, but this year has been a struggle; they both have 40 tour points and $12,000 in earnings. Nakamura hasn't made it to Division I yet this year, meeting some sort of major obstacle in Division I Placement. In the first event, it was Lazavik; in the second, it was GM Velimir Ivic; finally, in the CrunchLabs Masters, it was GM Jules Moussard. His best chance is winning Division I of the next and last event in September.

Tick, tick, tick!

4. Grischuk's Still Got It, Wins Division II From Losers Bracket

We can safely call the three-time blitz world blitz champion a veteran grandmaster and elite player. He earned his grandmaster title in 2000, when many of today's top players were still in their pampers. Just think of this: GM Gukesh Dommaraju, the challenger for the 2024 FIDE World Championship, was only born six years later.

Grischuk made it to the Division III Grand Final in the 2024 Chessable Masters and even forced the match reset against GM Alexey Sarana, but he lost. This time around, he completed the redemption arc; he beat GM Vidit Gujrathi twice—thus directly qualifying for Division I of the next event. In a world where 20-year-old grandmasters are considered to be seasoned players, Grischuk may have another surprise or two up his sleeve. 

5. Arjun Has 2 Bad Days, Still Wins Division III 

They say there's no luck in chess, but every CCT features vastly contrasting twists of fortune. We often see a surprise entrant in Division I (though they're always eliminated eventually), and we always see incredibly strong players in Division III. World number-four GM Arjun Erigaisi found himself in the last division, but still he made the most of it.

Had one or two games gone differently on day one, Arjun could have just as reliably qualified for Division I. In the Play-in, he started with a strong 5.5/7 but then lost the last two rounds. Division Placement also didn't go his way, but once he got into Division III he won every single match he played, against:

• IM Read Samadov (2.5-0.5)
• GM Benjamin Bok (2.5-0.5)
• GM David Paravyan (2.5-1.5)
• GM Daniil Dubov (2.5-1.5)
• GM Evgeny Alekseev (2.5-1.5)
• Alekseev again in the Grand Final (2.5-0.5)

The 20-year-old jumped from world number-30 to number-four in a matter of months this year, so you might as well expect the unexpected in the Play-in of the next event. Arjun is capable of qualifying for Division I, but so are many other grandmasters from all over the world. You won't want to miss the action, which will start back up at the end of September.

What was your biggest takeaway from the CrunchLabs Masters? Let us know in the comments below!

The 2024 Chess.com Classic is the second of the Champions Chess Tour's four events and determines one of the players who'll make it to the in-person CCT Finals. The event starts on May 8 at 12:30 p.m. ET/18:30 CEST/10 p.m. IST and features a $300,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• • Day 8: Vachier-Lagrave Wins CrunchLabs Masters After Defeating Firouzja In Armageddon
  • Day 7: Grischuk Beats Vidit Twice To Win Division II, Arjun Tops Division III With Game To Spare
  • Day 6: Firouzja Neutralizes Nepomniachtchi's Killer Prep, Sets Up All-French Grand Final
  • Day 5: Vachier-Lagrave Reaches Div I Grand Final As Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi Set Up Repeat Clash
  • Day 4: Vachier-Lagrave Surpasses Carlsen, Sets Up All-French Winners Final With Firouzja
  • Day 3: Firouzja Recovers After 9-Move Loss, Joins Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Duda In Winners
  • Day 2: Caruana, Wesley So, Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Andreikin Advance To Division I
  • Day 1: Nepomniachtchi Wins Play-in On Tiebreaks Over Nakamura, Antipov
  • Announcing The 2024 CrunchLabs Masters, Champions Chess Tour's Third Even