BUDAPEST: With less than 30 minutes to go for Magnus Carlsen's penultimate Group C game on Sunday, the World No. 1 may have been forgiven if he wanted to access some last-minute files before his matchup against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Norwegian has had many games against his 2021 World Championship contender, but Sunday was pregnant with possibilities.
With Fabiano Caruana breathing down his neck with respect to live ratings — the US GM was only 5.4 points behind (2798.6 as compared to 2804) — Carlsen, in danger of falling below 2800 for the first time in over 15 years, may have wanted to solidify his hold. But he has never believed in last-minute prep, and so he stuck to it. After finishing his lunch, he sat there watching a few skiing videos on one of his gadgets.
Just outside the restaurant, a few kids were waiting patiently for his autograph. In a nutshell, this really was classic Carlsen. Him being in his elements, even in a tournament where chess has rarely spoken for itself.
In a sense, Sunday was a repeat of all of the problems Carlsen has faced in the pilot edition of the Total Chess World Championship. He took a lot of risks and managed to earn several winning chances against Nepomniachtchi. But he couldn't find the finishing touch to bring home the points. He also got into a mad time scramble because he bled a lot of time during the opening and the middle game. By the time the endgame was on the board, the five-time champion was reduced to making moves with the clock under a minute on several occasions.
In a queen-rook endgame, both players shook hands as they were both content with a draw. However, for Carlsen, these are strange times. After nine rounds of fast classic — a format suited to his creative strengths — he is still searching for his first win (eight draws and a loss). That kind of streak has left him gasping for air on the two things he still cares about in classical chess: holding on to the No. 1 ranking and staying over 2800-rated.
On the live rating, he's now on 2802.6; in terms of his tournament, he has shed 20.4 rating points in four and a half days. The last time he was so close to dropping to the 2700s? When he was a teen, before he had become world champion. Context matters, and it's important to note that the 35-year-old has kept pushing in this tournament. It's kind of why he has ended up in time trouble because he has ended up having to save very tricky positions. On the contrary, it was assumed that Carlsen would adapt to this new time control — 45+30 — the quickest. However, that hasn't happened. If anything, he has struggled just like the other Super GMs.
After Monday's rest day, it will be fascinating to see what Carlsen does during the classifying rounds while the likes of Fabiano Caruana battle it out in the knockouts. He may lack the motivation to grind his way but he doesn't have that choice anymore because more draws could mean that he will drop down to World No. 2 as well as fall below 2800.
Carlsen in the first nine rounds of Total Chess
Total Games: Nine
Draws: Eight
Loss: One
Rating loss: 20.4
Current live rating: 2802.6 (the last time he was this close to falling below 2800 was when he was a teenager)
