GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Wesley So tied their first match in the final of the FTX Crypto Cup with two theoretical draws and a win each. In the consolation final between GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Teimour Radjabov, the players went for four quick, theoretical draws. On social media, several grandmasters expressed their disappointment.

Carlsen-So 2-2

It is already the third final between Carlsen and So in this Champions Chess Tour. The American player is going for a hattrick as he won both earlier finals, in the Skilling Open and the Opera Euro Rapid. (Carlsen did win the match for third place in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational against So.)

This time, the opening goal was scored by Carlsen, which was the first loss for So after staying undefeated for 29 games in this event. He must have underestimated Black’s pressure on the kingside after his light squares were seriously weakened:

Carlsen then didn’t really try with the white pieces as he chose a well-known line in the 5.Re1 Berlin that leads to dead equality. Remarkably, game four was not just the exact same variation; no, it was from A to Z a carbon copy of game two. There hardly has been a tournament in the history of chess with so many draws coming from players repeating the same theoretical openings variations over and over again. (More on that later!)

So’s win came in game three. The players continued another theoretical discussion in the Italian, with the same line as in the first game which they had also played in the Opera Euro Rapid. It looks like Carlsen mixed up his moves because he quickly got into trouble. So finished it off nicely:

About drawing his fourth game the same way as the second, Carlsen commented: “I felt like s*** and I didn’t want to play. I don’t feel good today; hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow. If you don’t feel well, you should listen to your body.”

Nepomniachtchi-Radjabov 2-2

Yesterday Nepomniachtchi tweeted that he was “looking forward to witness the finals,” which suggests that he might have forgotten about the fact that these tournaments also have matches for third place. The four non-games between him and Radjabov show that neither of them was motivated to play—four more quick draws in theoretical variations! As said, this tournament will go down in history as the one where some kind of dubious record was set.

Icelandic FM Ingvar Johannesson was quite critical in a YouTube video and on Twitter, GM Jorden van Foreest, GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, and GM Ivan Sokolov criticized the players:

Hope that players who show a lack of fighting spirit will receive penalties from now on. #ChessChamps #chess24

— Jorden van Foreest (@jordenvforeest) May 30, 2021

It’s ridiculous. I follow the preliminaries to some extent due to exciting players like @jordenvforeest and A.Pichot who are there to fight. I don’t follow the finals at all. Just took a look few minutes ago and this is the reason.

— Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (@GMJSChr) May 30, 2021

Radjabov later joined the discussion but couldn’t fix the “PR damage” right away:

Rather be an amateur chess player than not play chess at all😇

— Jorden van Foreest (@jordenvforeest) May 30, 2021

I fully agree with you @jordenvforeest have already complained too much about this.
Today was a ridiculous day
People adjusting daily obligations tuning in ‘not to miss any moment of action’ and getting this
Agree-disappointing.
Even not willing to look for ‘new drawing’ lines😂 https://t.co/EHWwLh0cXk

— Sokolov Ivan (@GMSokolovIvan) May 30, 2021

Bro be careful, soon they will take away Candidates place also and give it to some amateur😅🙏

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) May 30, 2021

All Games Day 8

The FTX Crypto Cup runs May 23-31 on chess24. The preliminary phase was a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players have advanced 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 2.1825 Bitcoin.

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