Carlsen Beats Ding As Maghsoodloo Powers Al-Ain Into Sole Lead
World number-one Magnus Carlsen bounced back to beat GMs Daniil Dubov and Ding Liren on day two of the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships, but his team WR Chess trails Al-Ain ACMG UAE by three points. GM Parham Maghsoodloo was the star for Al-Ain, taking down GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jorden van Foreest, and Timur Gareyev. Second-placed Decade China Team relied on its secret weapon, unrated Pang Bo, who has now scored 7/7 on the "recreational board."
Day three starts Sunday, August 4, at 5:30 a.m. ET / 11:30 CEST / 3 p.m. IST.
- Carlsen Scores 3/3 But WR Chess Hopes Fade
- Maghsoodloo, Artemiev, Andreikin Lead Al-Ain To Top
- Pang Bo On 7/7 As China And India Capitalize On "Recreational" Board
- 13-Year-Old Erdogmus Beats GM In 14 Moves
- Forfeit Losses In The Last Round
With one day remaining, Al-Ain has taken the sole lead, a point ahead of Decade China and two points clear of both Chessy and the team that beat it in round eight, GM Arjun Erigaisi's Team MGD1. Each of the remaining four matches offers two points for a win.
FIDE World Rapid Team Championship Standings After Day 2 (Top 11)
| Rank | Seed | Team | Matches | + | = | - | Score | TB |
| 1 | 4 | Al-Ain ACMG UAE | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 284.5 |
| 2 | 2 | Decade China Team | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 304.5 |
| 3 | 3 | Chessy | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 282 |
| 4 | 6 | Team MGD1 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 270.5 |
| 5 | 1 | WR Chess Team | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 250.5 |
| 6 | 7 | Ashdod Chess Club | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 232 |
| 7 | 9 | Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 222.5 |
| 8 | 5 | Kazchess | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 218 |
| 9 | 17 | Hunnu Air | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 200.5 |
| 10 | 11 | Astana-1 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 178.5 |
| 11 | 14 | Theme International Trading | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 173.5 |
Carlsen Scores 3/3 But WR Chess Hopes Fade
You expect a fightback when Carlsen experiences as brutal a loss as he did to GM Richard Rapport on day one, and that's just what we got, with the world number-one winning all three games he played. That didn't mean it was easy, with GM Daniil Dubov, top board for Al-Ain, playing some of the inventive, resourceful chess he's known for in the first clash of the day.
Dubov sacs a piece vs. Carlsen! https://t.co/xigs5bQyL2 pic.twitter.com/E1va4Nb6pr
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 3, 2024
Carlsen navigated the complications better, however, and went on to give a picturesque checkmate by the end.
That win couldn't stave off a second defeat of the event for top seed WR Chess, however, which cast it into the outer wilderness of the tournament and a pairing against Mongolian 17th seed Hunnu Air.
Carlsen faced GM Sumiya Bilguun, rated 448 points below him, and duly won, but only after surviving a dead lost position in the middle of the game.
Carlsen skipped the next game before returning for the final match of the day, against co-leader Decade China Team. After losing to the other two leaders, this was all but a must-win for WR Chess, which meant Carlsen had to go all-out on top board against the player who had succeeded him as world champion, Ding.
His approach wasn't gung-ho, however, but an example of smoothly outplaying a formidable opponent, even if some turbulence did occur in the final stages.
That's our Game of the Day, which has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
Once again, however, there would be frustration for WR Chess. A 3-3 draw left the team three points adrift of the leader and in need of some help on the final day.
Maghsoodloo, Artemiev, Andreikin Lead Al-Ain To Top
Dubov is winless on the top board for Al-Ain, but the strategy of putting him there has worked out perfectly for Al-Ain, who are racking up points on the lower boards. GM Dmitry Andreikin has 5/6, GM Vladislav Artemiev has 5.5/7, while Maghsoodloo's native optimism has paid off richly with 7/8.
He was instrumental in the victory we've already seen over WR Chess, when he turned the tables on Nepomniachtchi, despite getting down to a minute on his clock when his opponent still had 10. The game hinged on the one moment Nepomniachtchi took a longer think and went for 48.b5?, losing to some beautiful geometry.
The victory in that match saw Al-Ain catch Chessy in the lead, and a smooth win by Maghsoodloo over Van Foreest in the next round almost saw Al-Ain beat Chessy to take the sole lead. They were one move on the bottom board—65.Ng6+! and a draw by repetition with Nf8+, Ng6+ etc., away from clinching the match.
All the top teams won in round seven before Al-Ain scored a narrow 3.5-2.5 win over Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow in round eight to end the day as sole leader. Again, that hinged on Maghsoodloo, who gambled and ultimately won against Gareyev. It would be an understatement to say the game could have gone either way.
That match win was priceless, since Al-Ain's co-leaders Decade China Team scraped a draw, while Chessy suffered a surprise defeat, to Indian Team MGD1. That brings us to...
Pang Bo On 7/7 As China And India Capitalize On "Recreational" Board
The fundamental strategy to win the World Rapid Team Championship would at first seem to be to put in the money to field the best possible team. That's undoubtedly the case, but the regulation that the sixth board must feature a "recreational player" who has never been rated 2,000 or above introduces a whole new dynamic.
The obvious strategy becomes to find the strongest possible player who's never had such a rating, whether it's a fast-rising youngster or someone who simply has stayed below the official FIDE chess circuit radar.
The last board has had a huge impact this time. WR Chess Team's owner Wadim Rosenstein won his first game but has since gone on to lose the next seven, handicapping his team in crucial encounters. There are nine players on the team, but no potential substitutes rated <2,000.
Other teams, meanwhile, have been boosted by the bottom board, with TEAM MGD1 winning their crucial round-eight clash on board six.
Shah Mihir won a battle of two players who had scored 6/7 up to this point (Ainakul's rating can be above 2,000 since it had to be below only in June). Mihir has stoked some controversy for his conduct while pouncing on blunders by Rosenstein earlier in the event.
Rating 2000, Attitude 3000.
— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) August 3, 2024
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/mrK5dVjLLV
All those players, however, had to bow down to someone else, the mysterious Pang from China, a player in his mid-20s who has won all his games and been crucial in the Chinese team remaining unbeaten in second place. In one game, he memorably demonstrated perfect technique to checkmate with a knight and bishop.
Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun told GM Irina Krush on the live commentary:
He is a secret player and secret weapon for our team. There are many people who used to study chess and then when they go to university and they find a job, they still have a good level. He finished graduation and went to work. He played some chess and he was not a professional chess player, but he has some chess level—he has some unique style!
He is a secret player and secret weapon for our team.
—Ju Wenjun on Pang Bo
The drawback to performing well on the bottom board, however, is that if you cross 2,000 you won't be able to play there in subsequent events!
13-Year-Old Erdogmus Beats GM In 14 Moves
13-year-old GM-elect Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus is the Under 13 and Under 16 ChessKid Youth Champion, the fourth youngest player in history to become a grandmaster, and at 2599 after the recent Turkish League just one point away from smashing the record for the youngest player ever to cross 2600. The boy is good.
He's been showing that again for his team Chessy, winning all his games.
In GM Zhu Chen he'd beaten a former women's world champion, but his most remarkable win was against his highest-rated opponent, GM Darmen Sadvakasov. It's not often you beat a grandmaster in 14 moves!
Forfeit Losses In The Last Round
One match result in the final round looks relatively unremarkable at a glance but may have further consequences. On boards two and six, the players for GMHans.com made no moves, with the likely reason that GM Amin Tabatabaei from Iran and Aghiad Mero from Syria boycotted playing against an Israeli team, although it's noteworthy than none of the players representing Israel were taking part in that particular match.
Similar boycotts in the past have led to calls for the Iranian Chess Federation to be suspended from FIDE.
The focus on the final day, however, will be the battle for the World Rapid Team Championship title, with the round-nine clash between Team MGD1 and Al-Ain crucial, since the top teams have now largely played each other already.
How to watch?
The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Peter Leko, Irina Krush, and Evgenij Miroshnichenko.
The 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships run August 2-5 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with 40 teams of six players competing. Each team must feature at least one female player and one "recreational player," never rated 2000+. The Rapid is a 12-round Swiss with a time control of 15 minutes for all moves, plus a 10-second increment per move. The Blitz (3+2) begins with teams playing a round-robin in pools, before the top 16 play a knockout, where each clash features two mini-matches.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
