All he needed was this Grail. The Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who relinquished the title of world chess champion but who still remains the undisputed world No. 1, won one of the most important chess competitions for the first time on August 24, the of the world. Despite this triumph, the Thor of the chessboard reaffirmed that he was not interested in regaining the supreme title. The successor of the prestigious Capablanca, Alekhine, Kasparov and others, in the stratospheric world ranking of 2840 Elo points, won the tiebreaker against the Indian prodigy of just 18 years old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, – nicknamed Pragg by his admirers -, in the final of the World Cup, a competition in a knockout format that takes place every two years. Organized for this edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, it is one of the most prestigious competitions on the circuit, but until then Carlsen, despite being ultra-dominant over the past ten years, had never managed to reach the final.

The decisive game between the two champions, quickly commented:

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa – Magnus Carlsen 2023 World Cup played in Baku, fast pace of 25 min 10 sec per move per player. Variant Giuoco Pianissimo of the Italian part

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.a4 d6 6.0–0 a5 7.Be3 Bxe3 8.fxe3 0–0 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Nh4 c6 11.Qe1 d5 12.Bb3 Qd6 13.Qg3 Nh5 14.Qg5 g6 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.exf5 Kg7 17.Kh1 Qf6!… The Norwegian annihilated White’s attack…18.Qxf6 Nxf6 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.e4 dxe4, on the other hand here Carlsen irons out the central tension too much. Better was 20…Tad8!… 21.dxe4 Tad8 22.Rf2 Rd4 23.Raf1 Neg8 24.c3 Rd7 25.Re2 Re7 26.Bc2 Nd7 27.Nc4 Ra8 28.g4? crack. he had to maintain the balance of terror with, for example, the most serene 28.Tef2!… 28…f6?! and it’s Carlsen’s turn to panic. Stronger was 28…Ngf6 29.h3 Nc5!… 29.Rg2 Nh6 30.g5 fxg5 31.Rxg5 Nf7 32.Rg2 Re6! 33.Rd2 Rf6 34.Rxf6, the natural 34.Rfd1 was going nowhere after 34…Nc5! 34…Nxf6 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Kf8 37.Kg2 Re7 38.a5 Rh8 39.Re2? Nh5 40.Kg1 Nf4 41.Rd2 Rh3 42.a6??, with a few short seconds on the clock Pragg makes the decisive error.42.Bd1! would have closed the gaps… 42…bxa6 43.Ba4 Rc3 44.Na5 Ng5! 45.Rc2 Ngh3 46.Rf1 Ta3! As often in winning positions, the 64-square Thor is ruthless… See the chessboard below

47.Nxc6 Kf6 0-1. In this high-tension game, Carlsen’s experience made the difference.

For a decade the Norwegian was the holder of the world chess belt, the world championship. From 2013 he will therefore have won his five duels, first against the defending champion Anand, then against his four other challengers. But he gave up defending his title once again in 2023, tired of the format of the competition and its sequence of long games, leaving Ding Liren to become the first Chinese world champion in history.

The World Cup also makes it possible to win three of the eight places for the Candidates tournament, the competition which makes it possible to designate the challenger of the reigning world champion. Despite his triumph in Baku Carlsen seems to stay straight in his boots. He said again on the Chess24 platform during the competition: “Under the current format, there is no chance that I will participate in the Candidates tournament. Everyone has to act like I’m not going to play.” This decision, which confirms the standoff he has engaged with Fide, therefore automatically qualifies the other semi-finalists, the Azerbaijani Nijat Abasov and the American Fabiano Caruana…