Magnus Carlsen’s bid to defend his World Rapid Championship title got off to a good start as he opened with 4.5/5 on Day 1 in Warsaw. That score was matched by local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda and maverick Baadur Jobava, who drew a rollercoaster game in Round 5. The 13-player group just half a point behind includes 53-year-old Boris Gelfand as well as teenagers Nodirbek Abdusattorov (who beat Fabiano Caruana), Hans Niemann and Alireza Firouzja. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina have a perfect 4/4 in the women’s event. 

Magnus Carlsen got off to a great start | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

You can replay all the games from the open section of the World Rapid Championship using the selector below.

And here’s the day’s live commentary from Peter Leko and Surya Ganguly.

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Magnus Carlsen is looking to retain the triple crown he currently holds as the World Classical, Rapid and Blitz World Champion, and he’s one of very few players who can talk of winning everything in Warsaw as a realistic possibility. That’s what he did at the pre-tournament press conference. 

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, however, and in the very first round, against Georgia’s Merab Gagunashvili, Magnus was made to work hard. He seemed to have absolutely nothing…

…but by move 84 he’d converted that nothing into the drawn but hard to defend Rook + Bishop vs. Rook endgame. Then on move 103 his opponent cracked.

103…Ka5 leaves Black hanging on by a thread, but the position is still drawn. After 103…Ka3? either 104.Rc4+, as mentioned by Peter, or Carlsen’s choice of 104.Rb1+ pick up the c1-rook with check and win the game.

It would be an eventful day for the World Champion as he went on to score 4.5/5.

He got to do some running around the Polish National Football Stadium…

…and when his Round 2 draw saw him fall out of the top group it led to chaos. The local organisers realised too late that Magnus was supposed to be paired normally but then put on Board 1 to help Norwegian TV to cover his games. 

Magnus got to see how the other players live | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

The round was delayed as they planned to move Magnus after everyone had already sat down, but the World Champion decided to play, and beat, veteran Aleksey Dreev on the lowly Board 11.

The nearest Magnus came to disaster was perhaps in Round 5 against Alexei Shirov.

Shirov, who is back in the 2700 club at the age of 49, correctly played 18.f4!, but one ill-judged queen move a few moves later was all Magnus needed to get right back into the game, before he eventually won on time in what was in any case a won position.

Magnus commented:

It seems he also started with 4.5/5 in 2012, but Magnus has certainly suffered on Day 1 at times since, including beginning with two losses in 2018.

His 4.5/5 score proved enough for a tie for 1st place, though in the final round it had seemed that either Jan-Krzysztof Duda or Baadur Jobava would end the day on a perfect 5/5. Jan-Krzysztof, who a week earlier had won the European Blitz Championship, didn’t let the pressure of playing at home get to him.

He showed he was sharp in Round 1 against Armenia’s Hovhannes Gabuzyan, when 53…Nc5+ looked to be close to a fortress. 

But no — 54.Qxc5+! bxc5 55.Kxa4 and it turns out White is easily winning the pawn endgame. Duda went on to look convincing in the next three games as well, before he faced the hugely talented Baadur Jobava in the final game of the day. 

Baadur commented “you cannot fly without turbulence” about his earlier games, but said he felt the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were “a celebration”. 

His game against Duda was certainly huge fun for all chess fans, with Duda initially building up a winning attack, but then failing to find the killer blows. That’s when Baadur equalised, then took over, but just when the Georgian seemed to have done everything right, Jan-Krzysztof laid a devious trap with 46.Qc8!

46…g6 or 46…Qd6 retain a winning advantage for Black, but the entirely natural 46…Qe6? allowed the spectacular 47.Qxc7+!

After the forced 47…Bxc7 48.Rxe6+ Kxe6 49.Rxb3 it was Duda who had a slight advantage, but the game ended in what was a fair draw in 70 moves. So there were three co-leaders, though no less than 13 players are just half a point off the pace.

Among the chasing pack are some absolute heavyweights such as Ian Nepomniachtchi (who ended four of his games with 9 or more minutes remaining on his clock) and Alexander Grischuk, 53-year-old veteran Boris Gelfand (who impressively ground down Shakhriyar Mamedyarov) and three teenage stars. 

Ian Nepomniachtchi was in a hurry as he returned to action after the match | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

17-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov is already playing his 3rd World Rapid and Blitz, and could dismiss beating world no. 4 Fabiano Caruana as:

Nothing special, because this game was pretty much lost for him after he blundered the b7-pawn, and then ok, he held on for some moves, then I won. Nothing special. 

It’s perhaps that sangfroid that allowed Nodirbek to follow up by drawing against Nepomniachtchi and Grischuk.

18-year-old Alireza Firouzja’s strong start, that featured outwitting Nihal Sarin in an endgame, is no longer a surprise to anyone. The new world no. 2 finished runner-up in the 2019 World Rapid Championship.

Alireza Firouzja is one of the top favourites for both the Rapid and Blitz | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

Another 18-year-old, Hans Niemann, has only recently started to achieve lift-off, but the ambition is no less. When Anna Kantane asked him if he had any specific goals, he responded, “1st place!” 

He was given a helping hand on that path by Kirill Alekseenko.

2020 Candidate Kirill’s 56…Kxf6? 57.Rxe4 d5 was a bold concept, but it turned out just to be a blunder. Instead 56…d5!, not giving up the bishop, should give Black more than enough counterplay to meet White’s queening of a pawn on the kingside. 

The most colourful player on 4/5 is Timur Gareyev, who had a brilliant day at the office.

It could have been even better, since the US star was winning against Caruana.

22.Bh7+! was the road to glory, while after 22.Bxc6?! Qxd4! there was no longer a win for White.

Gareyev wasn’t too disappointed, however, since he admitted he’d expected to get checkmated. He commented, “I’m glad I survived this first day, because there are a lot of intense moments,” and added, “chess sometimes feels like you’re getting punched!”

Another player to end Day 1 on 4/5 was Anish Giri, and he admitted he couldn’t complain about life. He’d been in such a dire position against Germany’s Rasmus Svane that Peter Leko was inviting the audience to pray for the Dutch no. 1.

It worked almost too well. First, the transmission broke down in a position where Rasmus simply had two extra pawns — it was a day of more technical gremlins than usual for the always tough to organise World Rapid and Blitz Championships, leaving a number of games unfinished, or with incoherent moves or results. Then, suddenly, it was announced that Anish had won!

The remarkable final stages were caught on video…

…and Anish explained how he’d pulled off his unlikely victory.

That meant Anish ended the day above the likes of Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (3.5), Levon Aronian and Daniil Dubov (3) and Sergey Karjakin (2), with Sergey continuing his bad form from the Gashimov Memorial Blitz as he lost two games and escaped a lost position in another.

Another star to have suffered is women’s top seed Kateryna Lagno, who lost to Evgenija Ovod and then Liya Kurmangaliyeva, but Russia can boast of two players on a perfect 4/4.

Alexandra Kosteniuk got to have a lot of fun at the end of her fourth win, against Polina Shuvalova.

34.Ne6! Qh8 35.Nc7 Rxc7 36.Bxf7+! Kxf7 37.Qxc7 and Alexandra later went on to pick up another rook with check.

Alexandra Kosteniuk has been perfect so far | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

Valentina Gunina had been equally impressive before she reached 4/4 by correctly calculating a pawn endgame against Elisabeth Paehtz.

68.f5+! was the only winning move, with the white king getting the f4-square it needs. After 68…Kf6 69.Kf4 the dance that followed was always going to end badly for Black.

Valentina Gunina is a former Women's World Blitz Champion | photo: Adam Nurkiewicz, chess24

That means that Day 2 will begin with Gunina-Kosteniuk in the women’s section, while 20-year-old Vaishali is also flying high on Board 2, where she faces Nana Dzagnidze after beating Nino Batsiashvili and Mariya Muzychuk. 

The view from above | photo: Lennart Ootes, FIDE

In the open section, we’ve got the mouth-watering prospect of Jobava-Carlsen and Nepo-Duda on the top two boards, while Jan Gustafsson will be joining Peter Leko in the commentary booth.

Don’t miss all the action live here on chess24 from 15:00 CET/09:00 ET: Rapid Open, Rapid Women  

See also:

• Official website
• All the games on chess24: Rapid Open, Rapid Women, Blitz Open, Blitz Women
• World Rapid & Blitz: Can Magnus keep his triple crown?