Sports

Firouzja beats Carlsen to win Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.

The championship match of the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup between Magnus Carlsen and Aliresa Firouzja was finally played online on the chess24.com server on April 15. As expected, they provided online spectators with glorious excitement and a taste of topnotch grandmaster blitz chess.

Firouzja, the 17-year-old underdog in the match, proved he had the nerves and skills by narrowly winning the 16-game showdown whose outcome was only decided in the final game, 8½-7½. Firouzja led for most of the match although Carlsen, who was constantly berating himself for oversights, always managed to level up the score. The two had a draw in three of the 16 games they played and exchanged victories in the other 13. The victory was worth $14,000 for Rirouzja, while Carlsen took home the second prize purse of $9,000. Here are the final six games of the match with Firouzja leading, 5½-4½.

Carlsen, M (2876)-Firouzja, A (2702) [B90]

chess24.com (7.11) 2020

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3 e6 7.g4 h6 8.h4 Nc6 9.Rg1 h5 10.gxh5 Nxh5 11.Bg5 Qb6 12.Nb3 Bd7 13.Be2 g6 14.Qd2 Rc8 15.Be3 Qc7 16.0-0-0 b5 17.f4 Na5 18.Nxa5 Qxa5 19.Bd4 Rh7 20.Kb1 b4 21.Na2 Nxf4 22.Qxf4 e5 23.Qf2 exd4 24.Nxb4 Rb8 25.h5 gxh5 26.Rg8 Qb6 27.Bc4 a5 28.Nd3 Rg7 29.Rxg7 1-0

Firouzja, A (2702)-Carlsen, M (2876) [C65]

chess24.com (7.12) 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.c3 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nbd2 Re8 8.Re1 a6 9.Ba4 Bf8 10.Nf1 b5 11.Bb3 h6 12.Ng3 Be6 13.Bc2 d5 14.exd5 Bxd5 15.Qe2 g6 16.h3 Bg7 17.Be3 Nd7 18.Bb3 Bxb3 19.axb3 f5 20.Nf1 Nf6 21.b4 Qd7 22.Qc2 Kh7 23.Bc5 Nd5 24.Ng3 Qf7 25.Ra3 a5 26.bxa5 Rxa5 27.Rxa5 Nxa5 28.Nf1 Nb7 29.Be3 Nxe3 30.Nxe3 Nd6 31.Ra1 Rd8 32.Nd2 Rd7 33.Nb3 f4 34.Nf1 f3 35.g3 Qf5 36.Kh2 Nf7 37.Ne3 Qxd3 38.Qxd3 Rxd3 39.Ra7 Rd7 40.Nc5 Rd2 41.Ne4 Rxb2 42.Rxc7 Ng5 43.Nf6+ Kh8 44.Rc8+ Bf8 45.Neg4 h5 46.h4 hxg4 47.Nxg4 Kg7 48.hxg5 Be7 49.Rc7 Kf7 50.Nxe5+ Ke6 51.Ng4 Bxg5 52.Rc6+ Kf5 53.Kh3 Bd2 54.Rc5+ Ke4 55.Re5+ Kd3 56.c4 bxc4 57.Rd5+ Ke2 58.Re5+ Kf1 59.Nh2+ Kxf2 60.Ng4+ Kf1 61.Rd5 Bf4 62.Nh2+ Rxh2+ 63.Kxh2 f2 64.gxf4 Ke2 65.Re5+ Kf3 66.f5 f1Q 67.fxg6 Qg2# 0-1

Carlsen, M (2876) – Firouzja, A (2702) [B40]

Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup chess24.com INT (7.13), 15.04.2020

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 Nc6 4.Bb2 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.Bb5 Nge7 7.0-0 a6 8.Bxc6+ Nxc6 9.Re1+ Be7 10.Bxg7 Rg8 11.Bf6 Be6 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.d4 0-0-0 14.Nbd2 cxd4 15.Nf1 Qf6 16.Ng3 Bg4 17.Qd3 h5 18.h4 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Qxf3 20.gxf3 Rd6 21.Kg2 Rf6 22.Rh1 Ne5 23.Rad1 Rf4 24.Kf1 Rxf3 25.Nxh5 Rf5 26.Rxd4 Nc6 27.Rf4 Rxh5 28.Rxf7 Rg4 29.Rh3 Rhxh4 30.Rhf3 Rh1+ 0-1

Firouzja, A (2702)-Carlsen, M (2876) [C28]

chess24.com (7.14) 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.d3 Na5 5.Bb3 Nxb3 6.axb3 d5 7.Nf3 dxe4 8.Nxe5 exd3 9.0-0 Be7 10.Nxd3 0-0 11.Qf3 c6 12.h3 Re8 13.Rd1 Be6 14.Be3 Qc7 15.Bf4 Qc8 16.Be5 Nd7 17.Bd4 b6 18.Ne4 c5 19.Bc3 f6 20.Nf4 Bf7 21.Rd2 Nf8 22.Rad1 Qc7 23.Qg3 Qc6 24.Nxf6+ Bxf6 25.Rd6 Qe4 26.Bxf6 Ng6 27.Nh5 Qxc2 28.Bxg7 Bxb3 29.Bc3 Re7 30.Nf6+ Kf7 31.Nxh7 Rae8 32.Ng5+ Kg8 33.Ne4 Qxe4 34.Rxg6+ Kf8 35.Rdd6 Rf7 36.Rgf6 Ke7 37.Rxf7+ 1-0

Carlsen, M (2876)-Firouzja, A (2702) [E47]

chess24.com (7.15) 2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nge2 d5 7.cxd5 cxd4 8.exd4 exd5 9.0-0 h6 10.a3 Ba5 11.f3 Nc6 12.g4 Bb6 13.Bc2 Re8 14.Kh1 Nh7 15.Qd3 Nf8 16.Rg1 Ng6 17.Bd2 Be6 18.f4 Bd7 19.Raf1 Nf8 20.f5 Qh4 21.g5 Bc7 22.Bf4 Bxf4 23.Rxf4 Qh5 24.gxh6 Qxh6 25.Rfg4 Nh7 26.Rxg7+ Qxg7 27.Rxg7+ Kxg7 28.Qg3+ Kh8 29.f6 1-0

Firouzja, A (2702)-Carlsen, M (2876) [B23]

chess24.com (7.16) 2020

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nf3 d6 4.g3 Bg4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 g6 8.0-0 Bg7 9.Ne2 Nf6 10.c3 Nd7 11.Rd1 Qb6 12.Qe3 0-0 13.d4 cxd4 14.cxd4 Rac8 15.Rb1 Rc7 16.h4 Rfc8 17.Bh3 h5 18.Qd2 e6 19.d5 exd5 20.Qxd5 Nf6 21.Qd3 Ne5 22.Qe3 Qxe3 23.Bxe3 Re8 24.Nc3 Nc4 25.Bd4 Ng4 26.Nd5 Rc6 27.f3 Bxd4+ 28.Rxd4 Nge5 29.Kf2 Kg7 30.Bf1 Rd8 31.b3 Nb6 32.Ne3 Kf6 33.Rbd1 Ke7 34.Be2 Rdc8 35.R1d2 R8c7 36.f4 Ned7 37.Bf3 Nf8 38.R4d3 Ne6 39.e5 dxe5 40.Bxc6 Rxc6 41.fxe5 Nc5 42.Rd4 Ke6 43.Rd6+ Kxe5 44.Rxc6 bxc6 45.Rc2 Ne4+ 46.Kf3 c5 47.Re2 f5 48.Ng2 Nd5 49.Nf4 Nxf4 50.gxf4+ Kd4 51.Rg2 Nc3 52.Rxg6 Nxa2 53.Rg5 Nc1 54.Rxh5 Nxb3 55.Rh8 c4 56.Rd8+ Kc3 57.h5 Nd4+ 58.Rxd4 Kxd4 59.h6 c3 60.h7 Kd3 61.h8Q c2 62.Qb2 Kd2 63.Qd4+ Kc1 64.Ke2 a5 65.Qa1# 1-0

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