Carlsen wins Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, Gukesh finishes fourth

Saint Louis, Oct 30 (IANS) Magnus Carlsen emerges victorious in the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, while reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju finished fourth.

Carlsen defeated Gukesh twice and then also beat GM Fabiano Caruana twice to win the event and secure the USD 120,000 first prize, all before his final match against GM Hikaru Nakamura. He made two draws against Nakamura and earned another USD 50,000 bonus in the end, for a total of USD 170,000 over three days.

Caruana finished second with 16.5 points, nine points behind Carlsen, while Nakamura was third with 14 points and Gukesh placed fourth with 10 points.

On the third and final day, Carlsen won his first four games, earning three points for each victory. His first victim was world champion Gukesh, whom he defeated twice again. Throughout the tournament, Carlsen triumphed over Gukesh five times in total, drawing once.

"At some point it was very tough to start getting wins and when it's like that against this opposition, it usually goes downhill quite fast. But overall it was a great experience, especially before the World Cup. There are no better training partners than these three! The good thing is these three won't be there," Gukesh was quoted as saying by Chess24.

Gukesh, who led the tournament after winning the opening game, failed to secure another victory in the following days. He suffered two defeats against Carlsen on Day 2, followed by a draw in the first game against Nakamura, whom he had previously defeated on the first day to avenge his Checkmate: USA vs India exhibition match loss.

In the second game on Day 2, the Indian GM had a single opportunity in a fairly balanced rook endgame. However, he missed it, and the game ended in a draw. He subsequently lost the next game against Fabiano Caruana and finished the day with a draw.

--IANS

bc/vi