Once the scandal of Magnus Carlsen, sanctioned for playing with jeans, had been resolved, everything indicated that the pure emotion of the Lightning World Cup, where one can reach a rhythm of two movements per second, would eclipse the extra-sports. But no: this Monday the Norwegian signed a contract with the fashion brand G-STAR to advertise its denim clothing. And then he qualified for the quarterfinals in New York, but with serious difficulties. He will face the American Hans Niemann, whom he accused of cheating without any evidence in 2022. And, of course, he played with those pants.
The very elegant Cipriani building (at 55 Wall Street), headquarters of these World Championships, is about a hundred meters from the New York Stock Exchange. Both places are connected by a paradox: very little noise and enormous tension. With modern technology, stockbrokers no longer shout, but digitally move billions in a flash, with repercussions on every continent.
The blitz World Cup (about five minutes per player for the entire game) is played in almost stony silence, despite the 300 participants (adding the absolute and women’s competitions) and as many spectators who have paid between 65 and 220 dollars ( 62.5 to 211 euros) for being very close to the stars of mental boxing. But the nerves of those three hundred gladiators are at their limit, which translates into strong knocks on the clock when there are only a few seconds left until time runs out.
In that context, Carlsen suffered a small mishap that many coaches will use as a lesson for their pupils. It was the third round, and it didn’t take long to achieve a winning position against the Dutch Benjamin Bok. But there was still the (tedious) technical work of turning that advantage into victory. The Scandinavian had been playing with a certain indifference for some time when he reached a kings and pawns endgame where his natural move was b5, which he won immediately. But, after a short glance at his rival, he preferred b6, as if to say: “In this position everyone wins.” But lo and behold, his choice was a big mistake. Bok took advantage of this to force a draw position. Carlsen, upon realizing this, stood up like a spring, turned around with a gesture of displeasure, but immediately composed himself, put on his best smile, offered the tie and shook the hand of the excited Dutchman. One of the witnesses was the five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, Indian, now deputy president of the International Federation (FIDE): “Magnus has reacted so well because we are still in the third round; “If this happens to you in one of the last ones…”, he commented in perfect Spanish.
However, despite the laughter, it is likely that this small setback due to lack of concentration and overconfidence made a dent in the self-esteem of the number one,who left another half point in the fifth round against the American Sam Shankland. After beating Mamediárov (Azerbaijan) and Aronian (Armenia), he signed four consecutive draws against Caruana (USA), Niepómniashi (Russia, with the FIDE flag), So (USA) and another very famous American: Niemann, whom The Norwegian accused him of cheating without any evidence in 2022.
That trajectory left the Scandinavian on the edge of the abyss, and almost forced him to win in the penultimate round against Sevián, also an American. The fight was decided with very few seconds for both and the nerves were on edge. Sevián had a way to force a tie, he didn’t see it, and that was a ticket to the quarterfinals for Carlsen, who closed the tournament with a draw without a fight against the Frenchman Firouzja that benefited both.
But the shocks for the Norwegian did not end there, because the numbers – or perhaps fate – dictated that his opponent this Tuesday in the quarterfinals (best of four games) be the least desired: Niemann, to whom Carlsen had to pay a unpublished amount of money in an out-of-court settlement to avoid a conviction for accusing without evidence. The pairings (1st against 8th, 2nd against 7th, etc.) are as follows: Niepómniashi – Murzin, Duda – Caruana, Carlsen – Niemann and Firouzja – So. Results of the Spanish: Alan Pichot (59th), José Carlos Ibarra (105th) and David Antón (123rd), 108; the Argentine Faustino Oro, 11 years old, 144th; in the women’s tournament: Marta García (37th) and Sara Khadem (44th), 108.
All the results are here.
