Magnus Carlsen – Matthias Blübaum 2–0 – Look, he’s shaking his head. – Now shake your head again. This was a sentence that was repeated several times in the news studio during the first duel of day two of the World Championship in fischer chess. It almost looked as if Carlsen drove his opponent Blübaum crazy when he won the first duel – which consisted of two games – by a landslide. STARS AND COACHES: Magnus Carlsen and Peter Heine Nielsen. Photo: Jørund Wessel Carlsen / news On the other side of the board sat a clearly upset German. Blübaum alternated between shaking his head, smiling dejectedly and hiding his head in his hands during the games. This was particularly visible in the first game when Germany’s second best player made a blunder. – Blübaum played almost completely normal moves, but never got ahead on the board. Magnus’s pieces stood very well. I think he shook his head and thought ‘where have I been for the last quarter of an hour?’, says Sheila Stanford, expert and chess player. Carlsen, who came from a win over Vladimir Fedosejev and a loss to Hikaru Nakamura on Tuesday, thus got off to a dream start on the second day of the championship. He now stands with four points in the summary. Carlsen also meets the German in the next match. Each match consists of two games. The German frustrated The Norwegian 31-year-old went straight for Blübaum’s throat from the first move in the opening game. Carlsen got an early advantage on the board already after seven moves when Blübaum, who had the advantage with white pieces, made a big roar. At the same time as the arrow pushed further and further over to Carlsen’s side, the clock also began to tick towards Blübaum. After 40 moves, the game was over – Carlsen had won. – I think I played much better, except for one point where I allowed him to sacrifice quality with some chances of a draw. It was unnecessary. Otherwise, I felt that I played well from a difficult starting position, says Carlsen to news. This is how the World Cup in fischer chess is played. The group stage: The players are divided into two groups. The top two from each group advance to the playoffs. Each match in the group stage consists of two games: A game with white and a game with black – with the same starting position. The time control is 25 minutes for the first 30 moves. The players then get an extra five minutes for the rest of the game – in addition to five seconds per move. Victory gives two points. Draw one. Losses do not earn points. The play-offs: In the play-offs, all eight players meet and will play for 1st place, 3rd place, 5th place and 7th place. Each match in the play-offs consists of four games – with the same time control as in the group stage. The player with the most points wins the match. If there is a tie, it will all be decided in an armageddon match, which is played with a shorter time. The semi-final will be played on Saturday 29 October, while the two best teams will meet in the final on Sunday 30 October. Prize money: The winner of the World Championship in fischer chess secures around NOK 4.2 million. – Completely embarrassing Carlsen’s second game was no less impressive: There he used the 31st move before the German had to give up. The German was very down after the loss. – I just played terribly, so it was completely embarrassing. In the first game I lost without a chance, and in the second game I also played terribly. It was ridiculously bad, says German Blübaum to news about the first two games between the two. When asked if playing against Carlsen affected him, he replies: – If I look at how badly I played today, I suppose it affected me. I just hope I can give him better resistance afterwards. Bounced back after a day of mistakes The opening day on Tuesday was a rollercoaster for the Norwegian star. Carlsen played brilliantly at times, but also made two general blunders that made the experts gape. The one blunder was to prove fatal – Carlsen lost the game to Hikaru Nakamura a few minutes later. – My head is completely gone today, Carlsen told news after the blunder against Nakamura. Carlsen just meets Nakamura and Fedosejev on Thursday. The winner of the group will meet the runner-up in Group A, while the winner of Group A will meet the runner-up in Group B in the semi-finals on Saturday.
ttn-69
Check the opponent’s reaction after Carlsen’s demonstration of power – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
