World Champion Magnus Carlsen defeated American grandmaster Wesley So in an Arma-geddon match to win the FTX Crypto Cup, the sixth tournament of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour recently.
The match was forced into Armageddon mode when it was tied 2-2 on the first two days. This game represented the third time Carlsen and So engaged each other in a final during the Melt-water Chess Tour. For the sudden death encounter, So chose the black pieces. He therefore only required a draw to be declared winner while his opponent needed to win. And that is exactly what Carlsen did to claim the US$60,000 first prize.
Russia’s Ian Nepom-niachtchi, who will oppose Carlsen for the world championship title in November, won his game against Teimour Radjabov to finish in third place.
The players received cash and bitcoin as prizes.
Chess game
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Wesley So
Tournament: FTX Crypto Cup 2021, Armageddon Finals
Type of Game: Italian, normal
1. E4e5 2. Nf3Nc6 3. Bc4Nf6 4. d3Bc5
5. O-Oh6 6. c3O-O 7. b4Bb6 8. A4a6
9. Nbd2d6 10. Re1Ne7 11. D4exd4 12. Cxd4d5 13. e5Nh5 14. Bf1Nf4 15. Nb3Neg6 16. a5Ba7 17. Bxf4Nxf4 18. Qd2Ng6 19. Nc5f6 20. Bd3f5 21. Bc2Re8 22. g3Bxc5 23. bxc5Be6
24. Rab1Rb8 25. Re3Ne7 26. Reb3Qc8
27. Nh4Rf8 28. Ng2Bd7 29. h4Ba4
30. R3b2Bxc2 31. Qxc2Nc6 32. Qc3g5
33. Hxg5hxg5 34. f4Kg7 35. Kf2Rh8
36. fxg5Rh2 37. Qf3Nxd4 38. Qxd5Nc6
39. e6Qd8 40. Qd7+Qxd7 41. exd7Rd8
42. Rd2Ne5 43. Rxb7Kg6 44. Rxc7. 1-0.
Black resigns.
