Bangalore: Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will face off in a Chess960 match in Singapore on November 21-22, ahead of the World Championship between D Gukesh and reigning champion Ding Liren. The match is being organized by German entrepreneur Jan Buettner, founder of the Freestyle Chess tournament.
Together with Carlsen, he launched the first tournament in Weisenhauss, Germany, in February this year. In this format (Chess960/Fischer Random), the pieces on the home rank are semi-randomly arranged, leaving little room for theory and making for unconventional play.
The match is likely to take place at night at the Supertree Grove. The Supertrees are sustainable vertical gardens and the observatory, where the match is likely to be staged, is located at the tallest Supertree's canopy that offers a 360-degree panoramic view of the Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore cityscape.
“It’s going to make for spectacular pictures. We want to make it as big an event as possible,” Buettner told HT. “Originally, the idea was to have a exhibition match during the World Championship, but since Fabiano has other engagements, we decided to push it ahead.”
Carlsen and Caruana previously played each other in the 2018 World Championship match in London, where their classical games ended in 12 consecutive draws. Carlsen won the match in the rapid tie-break, making it one of the closest World Championship encounters in history. Incidentally, the final of the Freestyle GOAT Challenge in Weisenhauss also featured Carlsen and Caruana, which Carlsen won. “Magnus is happy to have a rematch,” said Buettner. “And who can forget the 12 draws at the World Championship between them?”
{{/usCountry}}Carlsen and Caruana previously played each other in the 2018 World Championship match in London, where their classical games ended in 12 consecutive draws. Carlsen won the match in the rapid tie-break, making it one of the closest World Championship encounters in history. Incidentally, the final of the Freestyle GOAT Challenge in Weisenhauss also featured Carlsen and Caruana, which Carlsen won. “Magnus is happy to have a rematch,” said Buettner. “And who can forget the 12 draws at the World Championship between them?”
{{/usCountry}}Next year, Buettner plans to launch a Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour—a series of Chess960 tournaments—across five continents. India is a “likely” destination in Asia, he noted. “We have a couple of other Asian locations like Singapore and Riyadh in mind, but New Delhi is my favourite.”
Days after the Carlsen-Caruana face-off, Gukesh will bid to become the youngest-ever world chess champion when he faces Ding in a 14-game classical match, starting on November 25. Ding has struggled with form of late and hasn’t secured a classical win in months, while Gukesh performed exceptionally well at the recent Olympiad. Ding, however, has the experience of having played and won a World Championship match. Gukesh, though, is considered a strong favourite with world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura recently offering that he “doesn’t see any world where Gukesh doesn’t win.”