Carlsen, Lagno Winners At Steinitz Memorial

The FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial, an online blitz tournament held over the weekend, was clinched by the two reigning world blitz champions. Magnus Carlsen won the men's event with a round to spare while the women's section was won by Kateryna Lagno.

Sunday afternoon started with the six final rounds of the women's tournament. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's domination was short-lived as her second and third days were not as convincing. Especially on day two, she scored badly: three losses, two draws, and one win.

By the end of the second day, she was still only half a point behind the new leader: her compatriot Lagno. The latter played a critical game with IM Elisabeth Paehtz, who was close to winning when she was tricked:

Lagno started her Sunday badly as she lost to GM Lei Tingjie, but recovered with three wins in a row. After the 18th round, these two players tied for first place, ahead of the Kazakh IM Zhansaya Abdumalik who did really well. 

FIDE Women's Online Steinitz Memorial | Final Standings

Per regulations, Lagno and Lei had to play an armageddon game with five minutes on the clock for White and four for Black, who needed only a draw. 

This might well be the longest armageddon game in history as it lasted 152 moves! The reason for that is that Lagno, as Black, was the only player with serious winning chances, but at the same time she had less time. Lei tried to flag her but eventually lost herself:

All games of day 2-3

"'I'm more happy than I would have been if I hadn’t won the tournament, but that was terrible, from start to finish," said Carlsen after adding another tournament victory to his resume.

We've seen the world champion winning tournaments where one or two days didn't go well, but seeing him win without finding his top shape on all three days, that is rare.

After two days of play, GM Daniil Dubov was leading with 8/12, half a point ahead of Carlsen. Dubov had managed to beat the world champ in a very clean game:

GM Peter Svidler became the second Russian grandmaster to beat Carlsen, where he finished with a beautiful move that reminded of Carlsen's very last move in his world championship match with GM Sergey Karjakin:

Day three was Carlsen's best day, as he avoided a loss and scored three wins and three draws. Because his chief rivals were losing games at critical moments, the Norwegian star secured victory with a round to spare and won the tournament with a two-point margin.

Carlsen's best win is his game with GM Alexander Grischuk, who ended in last place. Perhaps playing two tournaments in one weekend is a bit too much after all.

FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial | Final Standings

All games of day 2-3

The Steinitz Memorial took place on May 15-17 and was played on Chess24. Both a male and a female group of players with 10 players each played 18 rounds of blitz, with six rounds on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The time control was three minutes plus a two-second increment.

The total prize fund is 30,000 euros ($32,465) with 18,000 for the open section (4,500 for the winner) and 12,000 for the women's section (3,000 for the winner).

Previous report:

• Grischuk Plays Steinitz Memorial, Chessbrah Invitational Back-To-Back