FTX Crypto Cup: Caruana Jumps To 1st, Carlsen Still Struggling

Scoring 4/5 on the second day, GM Fabiano Caruana jumped to shared first place at the FTX Crypto Cup. The American GM shares the lead with 2022 FIDE Candidate GM Teimour Radjabov and GM Hikaru Nakamura. GM Magnus Carlsen, on the other hand, is in danger of early elimination.

FTX Crypto Cup | Round 10 Standings

#	Fed	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts
1		Caruana	2820	2859		½		1	½	½		1		0	1	½	½			1	6.5/10
2		Radjabov	2765	2860	½		½		½	½		1		½	1	½	½			1	6.5/10
3		Nakamura	2736	2862		½		½	½	½	½			1	1			½	½	1	6.5/10
4		Giri	2780	2827	0		½				1	0	½			½	1	½	1	1	6.0/10
5		So	2770	2839	½	½	½					½	½	½	½		½	1	1		6.0/10
6		Vachier-Lagrave	2760	2804	½	½	½				½	½	1	0			½	½	1		5.5/10
7		Ding	2799	2785			½	0		½		½	½			½	½	½	1	1	5.5/10
8		Svidler	2714	2801	0	0		1	½	½	½			½	½	1				1	5.5/10
9		Carlsen	2847	2792				½	½	0	½			1	½	0		1	1	½	5.5/10
10		Mamedyarov	2770	2774	1	½	0		½	1		½	0		½	1	0				5.0/10
11		Nepomniachtchi	2792	2733	0	0	0		½			½	½	½		1	½	1			4.5/10
12		Aronian	2781	2743	½	½		½			½	0	1	0	0			½	1		4.5/10
13		Firouzja	2759	2696	½	½		0	½	½	½			1	½				0	0	4.0/10
14		Dubov	2710	2697			½	½	0	½	½		0		0	½			½	1	4.0/10
15		Grischuk	2776	2611			½	0	0	0	0		0			0	1	½		1	3.0/10
16		Pichot	2630	2470	0	0	0	0			0	0	½				1	0	0		1.5/10

Caruana hadn’t played serious online chess for half a year but only needed a day to warm up. On an excellent second day, he drew two games and won three, including against two of his rivals at the recent Candidates: GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Anish Giri.

Nepo was beaten in a fairly straightforward game. Caruana managed to avoid the Grunfeld by turning it into a Pirc. Then he used ideas from the King’s Indian:

Also in his game with Giri, Caruana ended with a killer of a passed d-pawn. It’s interesting to see how Giri is trying all kinds of different openings (leftovers from the Candidates prep?), and he was doing OK in the opening:

Co-leader Radjabov also beat Nepomniachtchi, who finds himself in 11th place with five rounds to go. A pawn sacrifice in the opening backfired:

Teimour Radjabov FTX Crypto — Already seeded into the next Candidates, Radjabov is doing well in this tournament. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

GM Alireza Firouzja, the youngest player in the field, had started with a solid plus-one on the first day, but then he had a bad second day with three losses. Tailender GM Alan Pichot scored his only victory so far against the Iranian prodigy with an early Nxf7. What decided the game was Firouzja self-trapping his queen:

And what about the world champion? Well, after his “awful” first day, he only did slightly better with two wins and one loss. After starting his first game with 1.b4 against Giri (a draw), he tried 1.b3 in the next. With a bit of help from his opponent, that went pretty well:

Carlsen ended the day with an unnecessary loss, where he played a few bad moves in a row in an endgame against GM Levon Aronian. The Tour leader was disgusted with himself and described his play afterward as a “self-inflicted wound.”

Magnus Carlsen FTX Crypto — Carlsen will need to do better on day three. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

All Games Day 2

The FTX Crypto Cup runs May 23-31 on chess24. The preliminary phase is a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advance to a six-day knockout that consists of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advance to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks only if a knockout match is tied after the second day. The prize fund is $220,000 with a bonus of 2.18 Bitcoin.

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