New Delho, April 4, Vladislav Artemiev took down Magnus Carlsen as the Chessable Masters kicked off with a series of shocks across all three divisions.<\/p>
The event, the second leg of Chess.com's 2 million dollar Champions Chess Tour, began on Monday with a star-studded field in Division I headed by Carlsen and American rival Hikaru Nakamura.<\/p>
Right from the start, it was clear the two big beasts of online chess were in for a rough ride. Carlsen, playing in his last event as world champion, lost his first game to Artemiev after walking into a pin with 37\u2026Rb6. It was an ultra-rare endgame blunder from the Norwegian that seemed to set the tone going forward.<\/p>
Carlsen's mistake was the first of many in a topsy-turvy match that saw him go into the final game 2-1 down and needing a win to take it to an Armageddon tiebreaker.<\/p>
\"Magnus Carlsen losing two games with white in a day? When was the last time that happened?,\" GM David Howell said.<\/p>
Artemiev's nerve failed to hold, however, and he made two blunders to hand Carlsen a last-gasp way back into the match. Carlsen is never easily beaten.<\/p>
Yet then the Armageddon disaster truly struck for Carlsen. 38...Nxd3? It was a game-losing blunder and Artemiev hit back with 39.Rxg6+! to finally drop Carlsen down to the Losers bracket.<\/p>
In the first event of the 2023 Tour season, the Airthings Masters, Carlsen took the title without losing a match. Not this time.<\/p>
\"It was pretty bad. He generally outplayed me \u2026 the last game was terrible,\" Carlsen said after the match:<\/p>
Asked how he will pick himself up for next challenges, the Norwegian said: \"This was a really, really awful day of chess. I did everything to lose - and then some. Obviously, it takes a strong opponent to exploit that, but that was really poor so we'll see. I will do my best tomorrow, but this is unacceptable.\"<\/p>
Meanwhile, Carlsen's big rival Nakamura also found himself in trouble early on. Like Carlsen, the American needed a comeback to take it to Armageddon and was being dominated before Vladimir Fedoseev let the win slip in heartbreaking fashion with 76.b6?<\/p>
Nakamura now heads the Winners bracket while Carlsen needs to beat Liem or be dumped out of the tournament.<\/p>
Wesley So had been the first to confirm his place in the semi-final with a win over fellow American Levon Aronian. So recovered from a first-game loss to post two wins and take down his rival without needing the tiebreaker. Aronian now drops to the Losers bracket.<\/p>
Fabiano Caruana followed with another tense Armageddon win over Vietnam's Liem Le.<\/p>
\"What a day it's been, just so many twists and turns. Normally when tournaments start everyone's a bit nervous, a bit cagey, we see a few quick draws here and there. But this one's just been fired all day,\" GM Howell told Chess.com .<\/p>
Division II saw two notable results in the Round of 16 stage with Indian teen Praggnanandhaa beating Vietnam's Tuan Minh Le 3-0 and chess legend Vladimir Kramnik edging past China's Yangyi Yu 2.5-1.5. Arjun Erigaisi also beat his countryman Raunak Sadhwani 2.5-1.5.<\/p>
In Division III, David Anton of Spain pulled off a shock with a 2-1 win over India's teen star Gukesh D. in the Round of 32 before eventually losing 1.5-0.5 to Alexey Sarana.<\/p>
Division II saw two notable results in the Round of 16 stage with Indian teen Praggnanandhaa beating Vietnam's Tuan Minh Le 3-0 and chess legend Vladimir Kramnik edging past China's Yangyi Yu 2.5-1.5. Arjun Erigaisi also beat his countryman Raunak Sadhwani 2.5-1.5.<\/p>