Carlsen wins Altibox Norway Chess

Magnus Carlsen won the Altibox Norway Chess with a round to spare after defeating Alireza Firouzja in round 9 of the competition on Thursday night.

Iran Press/Europe: The match, which saw a pawn ending, witnessed a blunder from Firouzja who just had seconds left on the clock. The victory gave Carlsen his 10th major title win in 2020.

“I am very happy with the result. The game was a bit nervy. It’s always pleasant to clinch a tournament. Alireza is going to be around for a long time, so giving him a bit of an unpleasant memory – I think that’s not something that’s a bad thing for me. But obviously, the game in itself wasn’t too memorable,” he said.

Carlsen acknowledged that Alireza was nervous during the endgame. “He didn’t give the impression that he felt comfortable. If I had seen something else, I may have given up trying to win. He was clearly playing for a draw there, but it was clear from his time usage that he was very nervous. Even though I got nervous myself, it’s much worse for him,” Carlsen mentioned.

In the other results of the day, Levon Aronian defeated Aryan Tari via the Armageddon clash after their classical encounter ended in a draw. Fabiano Caruana too beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in an Armageddon match. Firouzja, Caruana, and Aronian will be fighting it out for the second spot on Friday.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, it's the first face-to-face chess super tournament and held in Stavanger Norway. 

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