Magnus Carlsen once again proved his GOAT status with a dominant 23-move victory against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Game 1 of the ongoing Weissenhaus quarter-finals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The World No. 1 showcased his class after only 21 moves, and wrapped up proceedings soon, with his opponent resigning. The Uzbek GM trails 0-1 and will face Carlsen once again tomorrow, hoping to stage a comeback.
The Weissenhaus Grand Slam, which is also a Chess960 tournament, has some interesting features, and one of them is the confession booth. It was brought into focus on Sunday during the quarter-finals and saw the likes of Levon Aronian visit it during their game.
Also Read: Magnus Carlsen reacts after beating D Gukesh: 'I always have these tricks…'
Magnus Carlsen's confession
The booth is used to make a confession by the grandmasters where they analyse their ongoing or completed games, and also reveal if they missed out on any moves. Carlsen, in particular, visited the confession booth during his quarter-final match and it sent fans into a state of meltdown.
“If I manage, let’s say he’d taken the pawn immediately, I go g3 up, make up for the Queen, protects the pawn with pawn to d5. Then I think I can probably give a check with the bishop. And then after he blocks the check, I can, like move the rook from b1 to d1 castling. As far as I can see, the rules allow that.
{{/usCountry}}“If I manage, let’s say he’d taken the pawn immediately, I go g3 up, make up for the Queen, protects the pawn with pawn to d5. Then I think I can probably give a check with the bishop. And then after he blocks the check, I can, like move the rook from b1 to d1 castling. As far as I can see, the rules allow that.
{{/usCountry}}“So at first, I’m thinking what is he doing because now g3… The thing is his bishop is covering the squares along the diagonal. So it seemed that nonsensical to take the rook and also tactically, g5 was hanging in some lines or even if he was protecting e6. But I think that’s what he was worried about. Now I think d5, looked very unappetising without the light squared control. So I think I will be able to bring the queen out to e4 and I think be a little bit better”, he added.
Carlsen also proved his status as World No. 1 in the final round of the round-robin stage when he secured a one-sided win against reigning world champion D Gukesh.