5 Things We Learned — Chessable Masters 2024

The first event of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour, the 2024 Chessable Masters, is in the books, and plenty has happened in the tournament that lasted eight days.

Some things aren't new, like the fact that GM Magnus Carlsen won again. But plenty is. First we announce the Best Game of the Tournament and Brilliant Move of the Tournament, and then we dive into five things we learned since last Wednesday.

• Best Game of the Tournament: Indjic-Svidler 0-1
• Brilliant Move of the Tournament: Dubov-Minh Le 23.Nf6!!
• 1. Carlsen Is The Best Rapid Chess Player Right Now
• 2. Favorites Don't Win Every Time
• 3. Suspicions About Fair Play Persist
• 4. Keymer is On The Rise 
• 5. The Old Guard Marches On

Best Game of the Tournament: Indjic-Svidler 0-1

We had to choose just one. With votes from the commentary team, our resident GM Rafael Leitao, and daily report author (me!), the Best Game of the Tournament is: GM Peter Svidler's absolute demolition of the Vienna Opening from the black side, played on day one. You can see the annotated game here.

Brilliant Move of the Tournament: Dubov-Minh Le 23.Nf6!!

The Brilliant Move of the Tournament was GM Daniil Dubov's 23.Nf6!!. After a pawn sacrifice, this knight sacrifice would later be followed by a rook sacrifice for a beautiful win. You can see the full game here. 

On to what we've learned.

1. Carlsen Is The Best Rapid Chess Player Right Now

Okay, we all have our opinions on who the G.O.A.T. of chess is. But it's hard to argue with Carlsen's dominance in rapid chess, especially over the last two years.

He's number-one on the FIDE rapid rating list, has won the last two FIDE World Rapid Chess Championships (and the Blitz too), added a third Champions Chess Tour title to his accolades this past December, and with this latest victory has won 14 of 17 CCT Finals.

Whether or not you believe he's the best player of all time, he's pretty darn good at rapid chess at the moment.

2. Favorites Don't Win Every Time

While we did see several of the world's top-20 make it into Division I—GM Wesley So, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Alireza Firouzja—not all of them did.

GM Fabiano Caruana didn't make it past the Play-in on day one, scoring 3.5/8 and withdrawing before the last round. GM Leinier Dominguez, number 10 in the world, scored 4.5/9, which wasn't enough to make it into Division III Placement.

On the tournament's last day, even Grand Finalist Firouzja said: "It's not easy to get out of the Play-in [on day one] even, so I'm happy that I'm here [in the Grand Final]."

It's not easy to get out of the Play-in even.

—Alireza Firouzja

It's a grueling tournament, and things only got harder for those who made it into Division Play. GM Hikaru Nakamura, a player we'd normally expect to have chances of winning Division I, was beaten by GM Denis Lazavik on day two and eliminated by GM Rauf Mamedov in the second round of the Division II Loser's Bracket. 

GM Anish Giri is another player we might expect in Division I. He made it as far as the Losers Quarterfinals of Division II. 

Great fight!
Me I lost to Lazavik, Xiong and Bok, I feel like I qualified to a one-on-one therapy session with Kramnik!

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) February 5, 2024

3. Suspicions About Fair Play Persist

Fair Play has been a hot topic in chess recently with both direct and indirect accusations frequently being circulated without evidence. Unfortunately, the Chessable Masters was not exempt from these conversations.

In chat and on social media, suspicions were levied against some of the talented, young players who succeeded in the event. GM Jose Martinez publicly voiced his frustration and sadness with the situation on Twitter/X.

Muy feliz con el performance de hoy, resistir el ataque en la primera partida con poco tiempo es muy dificil pero pude lograrlo, sobrevivir 2 partidas un poco peor Para poder avanzar a la siguiente fase!

Pero triste, amargo por las constantes acusaciones o sospechas de muchos.

— Jose Martínez Alcántara (@GMJoseMartinez) February 2, 2024

Such accusations were also levied against Lazavik, a 2023 CCT Finalist who had an excellent event and also performed at a strong level over the board in both the CCT Finals and the World Blitz Championship in December. He spoke about the experience of such accusations in an interview at the CCT Finals.

Chess.com's Fair Play team noted that both Martinez and Lazavik have been fully compliant with all Fair Play procedures, and per their observation, each has long played at a strong, but entirely human, level. 

4. Keymer Is On The Rise 

GM Vincent Keymer, the winner of Division II, has shown progress both online and over the board. The 19-year-old will play in Division I of the next event.

The world number-17 continues to compete on the highest stages in chess, but for now it's been a series of "nearly there" tournaments if we're talking about breaking into the Candidates and the world championship cycle. At the 2023 FIDE World Cup, he won the first game against Carlsen but was unable to win the match. At the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, the German number-one finished a point behind the winner, GM Vidit Gujrathi, who along with Nakamura (half a point behind) qualified for the Candidates.

Still under 20 years old, Keymer's going to play in Division I for the first time, where he will have another shot at upsetting the world number-one and other top players. There's no Candidates spot on the line, of course, but Keymer will have a critical chance to establish himself among the very best—and to win a $30,000 prize.

Congratulations to @VincentKeymer04 for winning the #ChessableMasters Division II! 🥇🇩🇪

This victory grants Keymer $15,000 and 50 Tour Points, as well as an important spot in Division I for the next event! pic.twitter.com/cptSmHv9IM

— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) February 6, 2024

5. The Old Guard Marches On

In the same breath, we can say that the previous generations aren't going down without a fight. While some favorites faltered in the early stages of the tournament, there were veterans who prospered.

GM Levon Aronian (41) and GM Alexander Grischuk (40) were the most successful. The former reached the Grand Final of Division II after defeating GMs David Anton Guijarro, Sam Sevian, and Vladislav Artemiev—though he finally lost against Keymer in the Winners Final and Grand Final.

Three-time Blitz World Champion Grischuk, on the other hand, in Division III surpassed Dubov and GMs Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Jaime Santos Latasa, Eltaj Safarli, and Oleksandr Bortnyk. He finally lost only against GM Alexey Sarana, twice. 

Svidler (47) deserves an honorable mention, as he finished ninth in the Play-in and played a brilliancy, the Game of the Tournament, along the way. The successes ended there, however, as he was knocked out in the early rounds of Division II by Keymer and then Giri in the Loser's Bracket.

Curiously, in Division I, the 33-year-olds were the oldest: Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave.

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

The 2024 Chessable Masters was the first of four events on the 2024 Champions Chess Tour 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.