After eight straight draws, the omens are finally looking good for Magnus Carlsen after #TeamCarlsen won Chessable’s big Carlsen Vs Caruana blitz tournament in London last night.
With the Norwegian’s World Chess Championship match with Fabiano Caruana locked 4-4, Chessable’s co-founder IM John Bartholomew showed the big boys how to get a result by topping a super-strong field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsPAXm1IHq8
Around 120 people turned out for our World Championship-themed event at Battersea Chess Club in London and Chessable members mixed with some of the most recognisable faces in chess, all behind masks of the two most recognisable – Carlsen and Caruana.
So the main guy behind the event won the whole thing. Congrats @fins0905! pic.twitter.com/6KTy8MBtFk
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 20, 2018
But in the final reckoning, it was Team Carlsen who won the day with IM Bartholomew toppling IM Kostya Kavutskiy – representing Team Caruana – in the play-off. Well done John!
#TeamKostya = #TeamFabi @chessable’s blitz event at @BatterseaChess 💪 pic.twitter.com/7cvAKK0N7Q
— Geert van der Velde (@blackatlantic) November 21, 2018
John and Kostya won through above a stellar field that included former English champion GM David Howell as top seed for Team Carlsen (“Magnus 1”) and the Russian GM Alexander Cherniaev for Team Caruana (“Caruana 1”).
Argentine Chess Olympiad player WIM Ayelén Martínez won the top women’s prize of £100.
Guess who! pic.twitter.com/trxc0CzqMt
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 20, 2018
The legendary Ginger GM Simon Williams, Chessable author GM Alex Colovic and the English GM Stephen Gordon were also in the mix along with the popular streamer IM Eric Rosen.
Battersea Chess Club @chessable meetup pic.twitter.com/ijtpg8zse2
— Eric Rosen (@IM_Rosen) November 20, 2018
In total, there were five GMs and 12 IMs taking part in the event, held on a World Chess Championship match rest day. In no particular order, these included:
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- IM Christof Sielecki, aka ChessExplained
- IM Sophie Milliet
- IM Mike Basman, the legend of English chess
- IM Tom Rendle
- IM Peter Roberson
- IM Bogdan Vioreanu
- IM Richard Bates
- IM Gavin Wall
- IM Alex Lopez
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Several names from the chess media also featured, including chess.com’s Peter Doggers, the Norwegian journalist Tarjei Svensen and the photographer and “The Thinkers” author David Llada.
Guess who… pic.twitter.com/cOXmJnqRH8
— Eric Rosen (@IM_Rosen) November 21, 2018
IM Anna Rudolf, who hosts the official World Chess Championship commentary, also made it – but was unable to play.
The prizes were almost a clean sweep for Team Carlsen with only late entrant IM Bogdan Vioreanu, a member of Battersea, in the placings for Team Caruana.
Part of the last quarterfinal game with @fins0905 @chessable @BatterseaChess pic.twitter.com/U9EtFd6uW9
— Stefan Voiculescu-Holvad (@SVHchess) November 21, 2018
The prize winners
1st £300 Carlsen 4 (IM John Bartholomew)
2nd £150 Carlsen 5 (IM Kostya Kavutskiy)
3rd = £75 Carlsen 1 (GM David Howell)
3rd = £75 Caruana 7 (IM Bogdan Vioreanu)
Women’s £100 Carlsen 14 (WIM Ayelén Martínez)
A rest day well spent… https://t.co/3B2gX9CZ5z pic.twitter.com/M1dIZEb3g1
— Eric Rosen (@IM_Rosen) November 21, 2018
Are you #TeamMagnus or #TeamFabi? As the host of the official broadcast I gotta stay neutral but I did enjoy visiting the blitz tourney of @BatterseaChess & @Chessable where the players had to wear #CarlsenCaruana2018 masks! Broadcast at https://t.co/ZsDh4ZJZt2 starting at 2:40✨ pic.twitter.com/bXWWMhKzib
— Anna Rudolf (@Anna_Chess) November 21, 2018
Lot of #Carslens and #Caruanas playing at the @chessable event in London this evening! pic.twitter.com/W42QMnQhmK
— BritishChessMagazine (@BCMChess) November 20, 2018
