Weissenhaus Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge QF: Advantage for Abdusattorov, Firouzja and Caruana

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/02/2024

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Alireza Firouzja (FRA) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) won their first game of the Quarterfinals at WEISSENHAUS Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. Abdusattorov once again defeated the classical world champion, Ding Liren (CHN) with the white pieces. The world no.1 Carlsen once again misplayed in the endgame. All three losses of him at this event occurred due to erroneous play in the endgame. Gukesh had advantage against Caruana until he made some strange decisions which went in the world no.2's favor. Liren, Carlsen and Gukesh must win the second game to force tie-breaks. Quarterfinals game 2 starts today at 1 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

Liren, Carlsen and Gukesh in a must-win situation

Alireza Firouzja (FRA) needs a draw in the second game to eliminate Magnus Carlsen (NOR) from the tournament

Abdusattorov - Liren

Position after 25.c4

The idea behind 25.c4 is quite simple. White wants to more files, b and g apart from the already accessible e-file. 25...bxc4 26.Re7 Ra5 followed by Rb5 would have been the best continuation for Black. 25...Bf7? 26.gxf5 bxc4 27.f6 and it was over for Black.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov on Ding Liren making a mistake as early as move 2 | Video: ChessBase India

Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs Ding Liren, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) continues his winning streak against Ding Liren (CHN)

Firouzja - Carlsen

Position after 30...Kh7

Magnus Carlsen once again made a mistake in the endgame 30...Kh7? Alireza Firouzja picked it up quite easily 31.Rf2 f4+ 32.Kf3 Rg1 33.Kg4 Kh6 34.Rxc7 White could take the pawn now as Re3 does not come with a check. 34...Re3 35.Kf5 Rge1 36.Re6+ Kh5 37.Rg6 and it's over for Black.

Final moments: Alireza Firouzja - Magnus Carlsen | Video: ChessBase India

Prince Alireza vs King Magnus - Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Magnus Carlsen is now in a must-win situation

Fabiano Caruana vs D Gukesh | Video: ChessBase India

Gukesh had an edge for a while but then he misplayed and lost the game against Fabiano Caruana

Vincent Keymer - Levon Aronian: 0.5-0.5

Photo Gallery

Players waiting for the starting position reveal

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer analyze a starting position before the round

Peter Leko, Vincent Keymer and Levon Aronian share a light moment after the game

The starting position balls inside the jar and the ones already got revealed on the right-hand side

Various chess memorabilia

Levon Aronian signing autograph for his fans

For more Quarterfinals Game 1 photos, please click at the following links: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Video Gallery

Magnus Carlsen arrives to the game in a happy mood | Video: ChessBase India

Levon Aronian was left all alone - Lone brilliance vs Team work | Video: ChessBase India

"To feel this joy and freshness in the game is very rare"- Levon on his 1st classical Chess960 game | Video: ChessBase India

The man who has a vision for Chess960 - Jan Buettner | Video: ChessBase India

The enthusiastic conversation between two chess lovers - Levon Aronian and Peter Leko | Video: ChessBase India

Vidit Gujrathi tweeted about the Playoff format

Anish Giri praised Peter Leko's commentary in his own inimitable way

Format

Time: Rapid and Standard

• Round robin: rapid 25 min for the game + 10 sec per move according to A5 of the FIDE laws of chess

• Tiebreak: first direct encounter, second: number of wins, third: Sonneborn-Berger

• Quarter-, semi- and finals: Two games standard 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes rest of the game additional 30 seconds per move

In Case of Tiebreak

1:1 in quarter-, semi-final or final. Tiebreak in the evening:

• two rapid games 15 min for the game + 10 sec per move

• two blitz games 5 min for the game + 2 sec per move

• then one more blitz game until a winner is found

Replay live stream

Replay Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge Quarterfinals Game 1 live commentary by GM Peter Leko, IM Tania Sachdev and GM Niclas Huschenbeth | Video: Freestyle Chess

Schedule

9th and 10th February: playoffs for starting order - Rapid

11th and 12th February: Quarterfinals - Classical

13th and 14th February: Semifinals - Classical

15th and 16th February: Finals - Classical

Replay Quarterfinals Game 1

QF Game 1 results

Nodirbek Abdusattorov - Ding Liren: 1-0

Alireza Firouzja - Magnus Carlsen: 1-0

Fabiano Caruana - D Gukesh: 1-0

Vincent Keymer - Levon Aronian: 0.5-0.5

Details

Links

Official site

Weissenhaus

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