Chess: 17-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov dethrones champion Magnus Carlsen

Warsaw, December 29: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, a 17-year-old prodigy from Uzbekistan, dethroned Magnus Carlsen as World Rapid Chess Champion in Warsaw by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in a tiebreaker.

Abdusattorov won the title along with a prize of $60,000 (€53,0444). Abdusattorov only lost one match, against the Ukrainian Anton Korobov, and tied in five others. This gave him a score of 9.5 points.

He racked up seven wins in the 13 rounds of the tournament, including in his match against the previous champion, the Norwegian Carlsen.

Carlsen, 31, won five world chess titles in a row, most recently the World Chess Championship in Dubai. Before Abdusattorov's victory on Tuesday, Carlsen had had complete stranglehold on chess' most prestigious titles in all time formats.

How did the rest of the championship go?

In the World Rapid Chess Championship, each player had 15 minutes on the clock, plus 10 additional seconds per move.

In the 13th round of the championship, Abdusattorov, Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen and the American Fabiano Caruana were all tied at 9 points.

The 3rd day of the #rapidblitz was exhilarating.
🏆The World Rapid Championship ended with a spectacular victory for Nordibek Abdusattorov, who defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in a play-off.
🏆Alexandra Kosteniuk won her first Women’s World Rapid Championship. pic.twitter.com/Mytb4RZj91

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 28, 2021

On the last day of the leadership, Carlsen was the leader with a half-point advantage but ended up making a mistake early on in his match against Abdusattorov.

Although the four players ended up tied at 9.5 points, the tie-breaker was reserved for the two players with the best overall statistics. Carlsen called this rule "completely stupid."

Carlsen said on Twitter: "Squabbles about the rules aside, what an absolutely incredible achievement!"

Squabbles about the rules aside, what an absolutely incredible acheviement! https://t.co/OGTtJMF4Xl

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 28, 2021

The World Blitz Chess Championship will start this Wednesday at the same venue, where players will have 3 minutes on the clock. Carlsen will also be defending his title in this championship.

With material from the EFE news agency

Edited by: Farah Bahgat

Source: DW