CCT Finals: Magnus Carlsen wins the first-ever NFT trophy

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/10/2021

Magnus Carlsen ended the tournament on a high note as he defeated his arch nemesis of the Tour, Wesley So in the final round of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. This ended Carlsen's losing streak. Teimour Radjabov registered his sixth consecutive match victory of the event. He played impressive chess throughout the Finals and secured the second place. Carlsen won the first-ever NFT trophy in a professional chess tournament and US$ 100,000. Radjabov got US$ 60,000. Aronian secured third place after a victory over Mamedyarov in the final round. He earned US$ 40,000. The next season of Champions Chess Tour will begin on 19th February 2022. Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Teimour Radjabov finishes second

The final round of the tournament witnessed the least number of games - 17 and not a single match went to the tie-breaks. Carlsen on winning against So in the final round, "Obviously it feels good to win the last round. I feel like, my energy has been down the last few days. I am really happy to finish the tournament with a success. I can have a rest and prepare for the world championship and enjoy this victory."

Magnus Carlsen is the winner of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Runner-up - Teimour Radjabov | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

3rd - Levon Aronian | Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Duda - Nakamura: 1-3

All four Rapid games ended between Duda and Nakamura ended decisively.

Duda - Nakamura, Game 1

Position after 24.Rxg5

Creative Duda exploded with 24.Rxg5 but unfortunately there wasn't much to go on for White, and he ended up losing the game.

Duda struck back in the second game in a very exciting game.

Nakamura - Duda, Game 2

Position after 21...Re5

Now that is definitely a display of creative play by Duda, unlike the first game, this time things worked in his way. Well that was not always the case.

Position after 24.Rh1

Black's queen is trapped after 24.Rh1. The game continued 24...f3+ 25.gxf3 gxf3+ 26.Nxf3 exf3+ 27.Kd3 Qg2 28.Rag1 Ng5 29.Rg2 fxg2 30.Rg1 Nf3 31.Rxg2 Ne1+ 32.Kd2 Nxg2 33.f4 and White has decisive advantage. Duda with his enterprising play managed to turn things around and win the game eventually.

Duda lost the third game as he got outplayed right out of the opening after he made some incorrect decisions.

Nakamura won a wild fourth game which ended in another loss for Duda who blundered a piece at the end.

Artemiev - Giri: 2.5-1.5

Artemiev won the fourth game after the first games were drawn.

Giri - Artemiev, Game 4

Position after 17.Rdc1

All traffic got redirected to the c-file. 17.Rdc1is certainly not the best choice as the c7-knight is now trapped and Black has a trick up his sleeve. Find out what White should have done instead.

Vachier-Lagrave - Radjabov: 0.5-2.5

After a draw in the first game, Radjabov won the second and third game to win the match. This was the sixth consecutive match victory for Radjabov. The last time he lost a game in this event was in the sixth round in the third game against So.

Mamedyarov - Aronian: 0.5-2.5

Aronian won the first two games and the third game ended in a draw.

Carlsen - So: 2.5-0.5

Carlsen won the first game after So mistakenly decided to bring his king to the center of the board.

Carlsen - So, Game 1

Position after 46...Ke6

46...Qc5+ 47.Kf3 Qd4 would have given Black a better fighting chance. 46...Ke6 has the ambition of capturing the e5-pawn but the cost of it is too high.

After a draw in the second game, Carlsen made a short work of So in just 25 moves.