2024 Champions Chess Tour Finals — 7 Takeaways

GM Magnus Carlsen has just won the 2024 Champions Chess Tour Finals in Oslo, Norway. It's Carlsen's fifth Champions Chess Tour title, and he's the only player to win the event since it began in 2020. He's added another trophy to the collection as well as another $200,000 first prize.

We review seven takeaways from this event.

1. Carlsen Is Undisputed King Of CCT
2. Early Leads Secured Match Victories In Semifinals And Final
3. Former World Champion Borrows From Gukesh
4. Top Players Can Miss Mates Too
5. Lazavik Is A Youngster To Watch Out For
6. The '90s Generation Is Still Going Strong
7. A Preview For World Rapid & Blitz Championships?

Carlsen Is Undisputed King Of CCT

While he loses individual matches from time to time, Carlsen has never not won a Champions Chess Tour event. Love it or hate it, there's something about the format that brings out his very best.

At the closing ceremony, Carlsen explained that one-on-one matches suit him better than regular tournaments. It also helps that he's won five World Rapid Championship titles and seven in Blitz. With the world number-one status in classical, he's usually the favorite in any tournament he plays, regardless of format.

Early Leads Secured Match Victories In Semifinals and Final

One of the most surprising results across the five-day event was GM Ian Nepomniachtchi's 3.5-0.5 domination against GM Alireza Firouzja in the Semifinals. It's not that Nepomniachtchi won, it's the margin—zero losses, one draw, three wins. Carlsen mentioned, in his interview that day, that he was also surprised by it, but also that when you lose with White in the first game, as Firouzja did, "It's hard to regain your composure."

We saw the same play out in the Final between Nepomniachtchi and Carlsen. The Norwegian grandmaster won the first game with White, and then again with Black, and after that it was already difficult to come back. Early momentum goes a long way in these six-game matches, although we saw more comebacks in the two-game matches of the round-robin stage.

Former World Champion Borrows From Gukesh

This event that started less than a week after GM Gukesh Dommaraju had won the 2024 FIDE World Championship and ended this Saturday. Although he isn't interested in the FIDE world champion title anymore, Carlsen clearly still pays attention to it—and borrows ideas he likes. In his match against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, for example, he copied Gukesh's 7.Re1!? from game seven of the match against GM Ding Liren. He said it's "not great for White, but it leads to fun positions."

In his last game against Nepomniachtchi, he again took a page out of Gukesh's book with 5.Nce2 in the French Defense (from game 13 of the match). Carlsen went on to win in 23 moves.

It comes to show that even champions must learn from others.

Top Players Can Miss Mates Too

Even the very best can make mistakes. We saw that in clearest terms on the penultimate day, when both Carlsen and Vachier-Lagrave missed a tactic they'd normally spot in five milliseconds—upside down, with their eyes closed, underwater. In the following position, both players missed 28.Qxf8!!, which leads to mate if Black takes the queen. 

At least they're human.

the end of chess as we know it

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) December 20, 2024

Lazavik Is A Youngster To Watch Out For

It's the second year in a row that GM Denis Lazavik has participated in the CCT Finals. At 18 years old, he was the youngest in the field. While he finished last in the round-robin last year, winning just one match and losing six, this year he nearly made it to the Semifinals. The teenager impressively won 3/3 matches on day one and ultimately finished 4/7 in the round-robin.

He was only eliminated in the Survival Stage, by Vachier-Lagrave. He told FM Mike Klein after that match that he'd exceeded his expectations coming into the tournament already, and that it was a good result overall.

"Overall, it's a good result!" says Denis Lazavik who made it all the way to the last match of the Survival Stage of the #CCTFinals! pic.twitter.com/YXrd7LKEb6

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 19, 2024

How far will he get next year in the Champions Chess Tour?

The '90s Generation Is Still Going Strong

The other two youngest players, GMs Vincent Keymer (20) and Firouzja (21), also made it to the Survival Stage, before they were eliminated, all by players born in the early 1990s. Carlsen, the winner, was born in 1990, as were runner-up Nepomniachtchi and third-placed Vachier-Lagrave.

GM Wesley So was born in 1993, while GM Levon Aronian, the only player representing the previous generation, was born in 1982.

While the new 18-year-old world champion paves the way for the next generation, the millennials still make their mark on the chess scene.

A Preview For World Rapid & Blitz Championships?

The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships are fast approaching, with the Rapid starting this Thursday. Carlsen has won both titles for the last two years straight, and of course the big question is whether he will complete a third sweep this year. If the Champions Chess Tour has shown us anything, it's that he's a real champion in speed-chess formats. 

What do you think? Will Carlsen "three-peat" the double crown this year, and if not, who will stop him? Let us know in the comments below!

Previous coverage:

• Day 5: Carlsen Wins 5th Champions Chess Tour Title
• Day 4: Nepomniachtchi Beats Firouzja With 2 Games To Spare, Carlsen Eliminates Vachier-Lagrave
• Day 3: Vachier-Lagrave To Play Carlsen In Semifinals, Firouzja Faces Nepomniachtchi
• Day 2: Firouzja Ends Carlsen's Streak, Still Trails By 1 With Lazavik, Nepomniachtchi
• Day 1: Lazavik, Carlsen On Perfect 3/3 After Surviving Rollercoaster 3rd Round
• Champions Chess Tour $500,000 Finals Kicks Off On December 17 In Oslo, Norway