Champions Chess Tour Skilling Open R11-15: Carlsen tops the preliminary stage
Carlsen topped the Preliminary stage of the Champions Chess Tour Skilling Open with 9.0/15. Nakamura finished at the second position also with 9.0/15. So, Nepomniachtchi and Aronian finished the Round-Robin stage with 8.5/10. Radjabov, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri advanced to the Knockout stage with 8.0/15 respectively. Quarter-Final games will begin tonight Wednesday 25th November from 10:30 p.m. IST with live commentary by IM Sagar Shah, Amruta Mokal and IM Soumya Swaminathan on ChessBase India youtube channel. Each encounter will have four Rapid games. Who do you think will win the matches today? Photo: chess24 live stream
Giri advances without winning a game on Day 3
Anish Giri barely managed to get into the top eight to advance to the knockout stage as he lost two games in succession and drew the other three games to finish the preliminary stage with 8.0/15. Both Carlsen and Nakamura finished the Round-Robin stage with 9.0/15 each respectively. Carlsen will face Giri in the Quarter-Finals while Nakamura will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. So, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian and Radjabov are the remaining four players to advance to the knockout stage.
Round 11: Vidit beats Svidler
Svidler made a simple pawn blunder which Vidit capitalized with ease and the Russian resigned after 21st move.
Svidler - Vidit
Svidler simply blundered a pawn with 19.b4. 19.cxb5 would have been fine. Vidit took with 19...bxc4 20.a3 Qa4 21.Rd2 a5 and white resigned.
Nepomniachtchi faltered in a completely winning basic rook endgame and allowed a draw.
Nepomniachtchi - Liem
The game continued with 62.Ke6 which allowed black to save the day. What was the winning continuation for white?
Carlsen was in a bit of a pickle when he allowed Nakamura to gain advantage using tactics.
Carlsen - Nakamura
Find out why 18.Rad1 is a mistake. Carlsen somehow managed to get away from trouble and salvage a draw.
Karjakin made an unforced error which allowed Radjabov to gain the upper hand.
Radjabov - Karjakin
How should white continue after 24...Ne8 ?
Ding Liren made a couple of errors in time trouble which turned the seemingly equal position in Firouzja's favor.
Firouzja - Ding Liren
White is threatening Nd6 and also the g7-pawn. Which one should black defend? Ding Liren defended this position incorrectly and eventually blundered into a mate in one to lose the game.
Aronian played beautifully and cramped up Duda's pieces to score a victory.
Aronian - Duda
Find out white's best plan and how should he continue here.
Round 12: Firouzja beats Giri
Vachier-Lagrave scored a fine victory over Duda as he overstretched his pawn.
Vachier-Lagrave - Duda
Find out why 29...h3 is a mistake and what black should have played instead.
Giri got quite a few good chances against Firouzja but he couldn't capitalize on them.
Giri - Firouzja
The game continued with 20.Ng3 and Giri did the breakthrough in the next move. What could he have done now?
How should white continue the attack here? The game continued with 26.Bd3
32.c4 ended all hopes for white and things turned into black's favor.
In a completely winning position, Karjakin made a terrible blunder against Anton.
Karjakin - Anton
Find out why 46.Be3 is a game losing blunder.
Once again Vidit managed to get decent position out of the Grunfeld, this time against Nepomniachtchi.
Vidit - Nepomniachtchi
The game continued with 19.Ra6 Qd7 and white had to retreat 20.Ra3. So obviously 19.Ra6 wasn't the best move, what was it then?
Round 13: Six decisive games
Svidler scored a fantastic win against Vachier-Lagrave but it was not without a mistake.
Svidler - Vachier-Lagrave
Find out why 23.Bh3 is a mistake and how can black get back in the game. Vachier-Lagrave made a bigger mistake and played 23...Bf6 returning the upper-hand to white.
So missed a completely winning Queen-Rook endgame two split pawns against Nepomniachtchi and eventually settled for a draw.
Nepomniachtchi - So
One would think that these are elementary wins for top players but no. Black misplayed here with 35...Qb3
Vidit misplayed at the beginning of the queen endgame which landed him in deep trouble against the world champion.
Carlsen - Vidit
Find out what was the best way for black to save the checkmate threat.
Black has one last opportunity to save the game. How?
Radjabov got a winning opportunity against Liem in the endgame but he missed it.
Radjabov - Liem
Find out the best continuation for white after 39...d2
Nakamura scored a comfortable victory against Anton.
Firouzja beat Karjakin after the latter blundered an important pawn in the endgame.
Firouzja - Karjakin
Find out why 26...Bf8 is a mistake and what black could have played instead.
Giri underestimated Aronian's attacking potential on the kingside which eventually caused the Dutch his second consecutive defeat of the day.
Aronian - Giri
At a first glance, 25...b4 might seem harmless but it actually gives two choices of attack - a safer one and an adventurous one. Can you find them both?
Duda scored his first win of the day and second win of the tournament when he beat Ding Liren in Round 13.
Duda - Ding Liren
Black went uber passive with 45...Ng7 and abandoned all hope to salvage a draw.
Round 14: Nakamura beats Firouzja
Karjakin missed tactics and the balance shifted in favor of Aronian.
Karjakin - Aronian
Find out why 26.Rd2 is a mistake. White resigned after five more moves.
Firouzja made an irrevocable tactical error and Nakamura is known not to miss those.
Nakamura - Firouzja
Find out why 30...Rd8 is a blunder.
Sometimes not doing something becomes difficult. Overdoing things can also have a negative effect. Anton overdid the position which created a window of opportunity for his opponent Liem.
Liem - Anton
23...h5 was uncalled for. Why?
Radjabov had a completely winning position against Vidit before he repeated moves and made a draw.
Vidit - Radjabov
Find out the best continuation for black after 26.f5
Nepomniachtchi missed capitalizing on Svidler's simple tactical error at first and then won eventually 16 moves later.
Round 15: Three wins only by black
Despite being better for the better part of the game, Anton squandered all his chances and lost to Vidit.
Anton - Vidit
One of the best chances white had throughout the game was after 20...e5. It was an easy decision. White must take on h5 with 21.gxh5. After 21...exf4 22.e5 Nd5 23.Bc4 white is winning and black has no compensation for it.
Firouzja suffered his second consecutive defeat of the day against Liem and his chances of advancing to the knockout stage diminished as Liem gave him no chance.
Duda lost to Karjakin and finished at the bottom of the preliminary stage.
Despite losing two games on day 3, Giri finished the preliminary stage with a draw with Ding Liren and advanced to the knockout stage.
Replay all Round 11-15 games from Day 3
Replay the live stream
Standings after the Preliminary stage
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2862 | NOR | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 9,0 | 9,0 | 0,5 | 5 |
| 2 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2736 | USA | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 9,0 | 9,0 | 0,5 | 4 |
| 3 | GM | So Wesley | 2770 | USA | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 8,5 | 8,5 | 1,5 | 3 |
| 4 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2784 | RUS | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 8,5 | 8,5 | 1,0 | 4 |
| 5 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2781 | ARM | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8,5 | 8,5 | 0,5 | 5 |
| 6 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 2765 | AZE | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8,0 | 8,0 | 3,0 | 5 |
| 7 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2784 | FRA | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 8,0 | 8,0 | 2,0 | 3 |
| 8 | GM | Giri Anish | 2764 | NED | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 8,0 | 8,0 | 2,0 | 3 |
| 9 | GM | Firouzja Alireza | 2749 | FID | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 8,0 | 8,0 | 1,5 | 6 |
| 10 | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2709 | VIE | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 8,0 | 8,0 | 1,5 | 5 |
| 11 | GM | Ding Liren | 2791 | CHN | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 7,5 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 2 |
| 12 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | IND | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 6,5 | 6,5 | 1,0 | 2 |
| 13 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2675 | ESP | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,5 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 5 |
| 14 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2723 | RUS | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 6,0 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 1 |
| 15 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2752 | RUS | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 5,5 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 3 |
| 16 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2743 | POL | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 4,5 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2 |
Knockout pairings
Schedule
Everyday game starts at 10:30 p.m. IST
Prizes
| Prelim result | Tour Points | Prize |
| 1st | 10 | |
| 2nd | 8 | |
| 3rd | 6 | |
| 4th | 5 | |
| 5th | 4 | |
| 6th | 3 | |
| 7th | 2 | |
| 8th | 1 | |
| 9-16th | 0 | $2,500 |
| Knockout result | Tour Points | Prize |
| Quarterfinal loser | 0 | $5,000 |
| Semifinal loser | 10 | $7,500 |
| Runner-up | 20 | $15,000 |
| Winner | 40 | $30,000 |
Total Prize Fund: US$ 100,000
