Wei Yi Powers To 2.5-Point Lead Over Carlsen
"I just sucked, honestly" said GM Magnus Carlsen about his play after losing his first game in the 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, to GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. He blundered a queen and lost the next game as well, but his 6/9 blitz score was more than respectable. The problem? GM Wei Yi caught fire after losing the first game to score 7.5/8 and go into the final nine rounds of blitz with a huge advantage.
The final day starts Sunday, May 12, at 7 a.m. ET / 13:00 CEST / 4:30 p.m. IST.
- Carlsen Recovers From Tailspin To Keep Hopes Alive
- Wei Yi Proves He's Also A Brilliant Blitz Player
- The Fight For Third
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland Standings After Blitz Day 1
Carlsen Recovers From Tailspin To Keep Hopes Alive
For one round of blitz, everything was going according to plan for Carlsen. He pounced on a single mistake to beat GM Kirill Shevchenko, which was enough to catch the leader in first place after Wei misplayed a drawish endgame and lost to GM Gukesh Dommaraju. It felt inevitable that the world blitz number-one would go on to dominate, especially as Wei began the day ranked 34th. That's when everything turned around, however, with Carlsen still shell-shocked when he talked to GM Cristian Chirila four hours later:
"I just didn’t have it today. I felt good from the start, but then I think my nervous system just collapsed during or after the game against Pragg, and after that I just sucked, honestly. The score was still half-decent, but obviously if Wei Yi continues to win then it doesn’t matter."
My nervous system just collapsed during or after the game against Pragg, and after that I just sucked, honestly.
—Magnus Carlsen
The opening went relatively well for Carlsen against Praggnanandhaa, but then he came under pressure, got low on time, and mistakes were made. His Indian opponent played the decisive stages of the game brilliantly.
Both players struggled to recover from that game. Praggnanandhaa, who had moved to within just one point of Carlsen in third place, went on to lose the next two games, while the former world champion's clash with GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the next round was the stuff nightmares are made of.
"I have no sense of anything with a few seconds," said Carlsen of his play in time trouble, and just when he was about to win a wild rollercoaster of a game he blundered his queen and jumped up and back in his chair before expressing his frustration for all to see.
A rollercoaster of emotions from Magnus! #SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland #grandchesstour #magnuscarlsen pic.twitter.com/2kIKqWnD6D
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) May 11, 2024
The live commentary caught the emotions and mayhem of those final moments.
Magnus blunders his queen to Abdusattorov in a wild time scramble in a position where he was completely winning! That's now two losses in a row for the world number one 😱#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/zsEGA0iGJP
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 11, 2024
If you can bear to look, here are the final stages of the game starting from move 38, when Abdusattorov missed a win and blundered instead.
After a game like that you perhaps need a stiff drink, or at least a relatively low-stakes pairing in the next round, but Carlsen faced Wei, who had won his last two games to open up a two-point lead at the top. It's credit to Carlsen that he refocused, built up a big advantage, and as Wei commented, "played very quickly and strong." In the end it wasn't enough, however, as the Chinese star mounted a great defense and managed to hold.
That's our Game of the Day, with analysis by GM Rafael Leitao below:
It would have been understandable to collapse at that point, but Carlsen went on to score 4.5/5, digging deep to score some big wins from dubious positions and shrugging off missing mate-in-three against GM Anish Giri as well as a mating attack against GM Arjun Erigaisi.
The greatest peril perhaps came against Gukesh, but the fighting words of a rival GOAT gave the added boost required to shrug off the danger and turn things around.
Garry Kasparov welcomes Magnus Carlsen before making the first move in Carlsen-Gukesh! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/HVfaWxVu3R
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 11, 2024
So it was a great recovery, but Carlsen summed up the task ahead on the final day: "Pretty much every game is a must-win, that’s for sure!"
Wei Yi Proves He's Also A Brilliant Blitz Player
We noted a day earlier that Wei had justified his position as world number-three on the rapid rankings, but a day later he made it clear that 34th on the blitz list was no reflection of his strength. He gained 31 points and climbed 16 places as he went on to score 7.5/9. After losing the first game he won all the rest, except for that draw against Carlsen.
| No. | Name | Fed | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total |
| 1 | Wei Yi | 2684 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.5 | ||
| 2 | Magnus Carlsen | 2886 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0 | ||
| 3 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2744 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0 | ||
| 4 | Vincent Keymer | 2610 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0 | ||
| 5 | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 2675 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | ||
| 6 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2766 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 4.0 | ||
| 7 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2661 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | ||
| 8 | Anish Giri | 2715 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 3.5 | ||
| 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2651 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 2.5 | ||
| 10 | Kirill Shevchenko | 2546 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 |
Wei confessed to having "some luck" to survive bad positions, mentioning in particular a missed win by Shevchenko, while Giri's bishop sac deserved more than the loss it ultimately brought.
No one plays perfectly at blitz, however, and overall Wei was immensely impressive, putting all his opponents under pressure and converting most of his chances ruthlessly. For instance, here's how he put Praggnanandhaa to the sword.
When Wei was asked what strategy he'll adopt going into the final day with such a lead over Carlsen, he commented: "I think I will just play my chess, without any strategy!"
I think I will just play my chess, without any strategy!
—Wei Yi
The Fight For Third
With six points separating Wei from third-placed Praggnanandhaa, something mind-blowing would have to happen for Wei or Carlsen not to win the tournament, but four or five players are still in contention for third. Praggnanandhaa had an up-and-down day to ultimately score 50 percent and maintain the third place in which he began the day, but his Indian colleague Arjun was threatening to take over. He matched Carlsen's 6/9 and at one point had won four games in a row.
Duda and Abdusattorov are also well within touching distance if they can hit top form. Keymer is much more of an outside bet, but it was heartening to see that he went on to score 5/9, the day's fourth-best score, despite managing to miss mate-in-one and only draw against Abdusattorov in the first game of the day. His redemption was complete when he delivered mate in the final game of the day vs. Praggnanandhaa!
Excitement is guaranteed on the final day in Warsaw as we get to see Carlsen attempt to chase down Wei.
The live broadcast was hosted by IM Jovanka Houska, GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Nazi Paikidze, GM Cristian Chirila, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.
The 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland is the first event on the 2024 Grand Chess Tour and runs May 8-12 in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. The 10 players first compete in a single rapid round-robin with a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, followed by a blitz double round-robin with a 5+2 time control.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
