World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has won the first online tournament of the Champions Chess Tour.
In the new edition of the World Chess Championship, the Norwegian prevailed in the final of the Airthings Masters with 4.5 to 2.5 against the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. It was the first tournament on the online Meltwater Champions Chess Tour with a total prize pool of $1.6 million.
Carlsen, who suffered from the consequences of a corona infection at the beginning of the tournament, had trouble reaching the quarter-finals. Nepomniachtchi, on the other hand, survived the preliminary round without any problems. The final initially went like their World Championship fight three months ago in Dubai with five draws in a row.
In their sixth game, however, Nepomniachtchi made a mistake, Carlsen took the decisive point and followed up with another win in the next game.
Before the semi-finals, the players remaining in the competition had decided to complete the tournament despite their dismay at the invasion of Ukraine.