Carlsen overwhelmingly won against top 10 players in the world
In the quarterfinals, So beat world number five player Alireza Firouzja 16.5-15.5, but Carlsen was on another level. The world's number one player quickly led by four points after a 5+1 series (5 minutes for each side, an additional second after each move).
Carlsen was even more dominant in the 3+1 part, winning the first five games. He ended this event with a score of 8-1, increasing the gap to 11 points before entering the 1+1 super flash category. When he stopped his opponent's seven-game winning streak with a draw, So smiled.
Statistics show that Wesley So has never won against Carlsen in 24 super lightning games played on the Chess platform. This time he won a game, but the gap continued to be widened by Carlsen. In the end, Carlsen won 22-7, the largest gap of 15 points since the beginning of the tournament. The last time a match at the Speed Chess Championship had a gap greater than 15 points was when Carlsen beat world number two Fabiano Caruana 22-4 in the quarterfinals last year.
Wesley So is the number 10 player in the world of standard and blitz chess, number 7 in rapid chess. This time he didn't play too bad, reaching a rate of moves matching the computer up to 90%. However, almost every mistake made the Filipino-American player pay the price, because Carlsen played an excellent match.
The remaining semi-final will take place between Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from 11 p.m. today, September 20, Hanoi time. Nakamura is more appreciated, as he has reached the finals in all seven previous tournaments. When asked about the possibility of reuniting with Nakamura in the final, Carlsen said that last year he was confident he would win against Nakamura but in the end lost. This time, the Norwegian player will likely have the opportunity to collect his debt, in the final match taking place at 1:00 a.m. on September 23.
The Speed Chess Championship has gone through seven editions, with Carlsen winning the first two tournaments but not participating in the next four, and Nakamura dominating the last five years. The 2022 final took place just a few hours after the FIFA World Cup final, when Nakamura beat Carlsen by a close score of 14.5-13.5. This match attracted tens of thousands of views at the same time, and was highly appreciated by the chess community for both its expertise and entertainment.
