Magnus Carlsen wins Your Next Move 2017 – Leuven

Magnus Carlsen may have been down by 3 points when the rapid rounds of the tournament concluded against the then leader Wesley So, but after a spectacular performance of 14.5/18 in the blitz rounds, Carlsen came out the runaway winner of the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2017, the Your Next Move 2017, which happened in Leuven, Belgium.

This is a back-to-back tournament wins for Carlsen as he also won the the tour’s Paris leg last month. Remember that the Grand Chess Tour 2017 is composed of 5 tournaments as follows:

Carlsen and So tied for first place before the final Day 2 of blitz games in Your Next Move 2017

Magnus Carlsen was trailing Wesley So right from the start of the Blitz round of Your Next Move 2017, until the final round of the day, Round 9, when they finally faced each other and the former was just a point behind.

Replay Round 9 Blitz game between Magnus Carlsen vs. Wesley So below:[replay]

Your Next Move 2017 Blitz Rounds 1-9 Results

RoundWhiteResultsBlack
1Kramnik, Vladimir1-0Giri, Anish
Anand, Viswanathan0-1Carlsen, Magnus
So, Wesley1-0Jobava, Baadur
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime1-0Aronian, Levon
Ivanchuk, Vassily0-1Nepomniachtchi, Ian
2Carlsen, Magnus½-½Kramnik, Vladimir
Giri, Anish½-½Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
So, Wesley1-0Anand, Viswanathan
Aronian, Levon1-0Ivanchuk, Vassily
Jobava, Baadur0-1Nepomniachtchi, Ian
3Kramnik, Vladimir½-½So, Wesley
Anand, Viswanathan1-0Jobava, Baadur
Nepomniachtchi, Ian½-½Aronian, Levon
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime0-1Carlsen, Magnus
Ivanchuk, Vassily0-1Giri, Anish
4Carlsen, Magnus1-0Ivanchuk, Vassily
Giri, Anish½-½Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Anand, Viswanathan½-½Kramnik, Vladimir
So, Wesley0-1Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Jobava, Baadur0-1Aronian, Levon
5Kramnik, Vladimir1-0Jobava, Baadur
Nepomniachtchi, Ian0-1Carlsen, Magnus
Aronian, Levon1-0Giri, Anish
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime0-1Anand, Viswanathan
Ivanchuk, Vassily½-½So, Wesley
6Carlsen, Magnus1-0Aronian, Levon
Kramnik, Vladimir1-0Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Anand, Viswanathan½-½Ivanchuk, Vassily
So, Wesley1-0Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Jobava, Baadur0-1Giri, Anish
7Giri, Anish1-0Carlsen, Magnus
Nepomniachtchi, Ian½-½Anand, Viswanathan
Aronian, Levon½-½So, Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime1-0Jobava, Baadur
Ivanchuk, Vassily½-½Kramnik, Vladimir
8Kramnik, Vladimir½-½Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Anand, Viswanathan1-0Aronian, Levon
So, Wesley0-1Giri, Anish
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime1-0Ivanchuk, Vassily
Jobava, Baadur0-1Carlsen, Magnus
9Carlsen, Magnus1-0So, Wesley
Giri, Anish½-½Anand, Viswanathan
Nepomniachtchi, Ian1-0Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Aronian, Levon½-½Kramnik, Vladimir
Ivanchuk, Vassily½-½Jobava, Baadur

Wesley So leads Your Next Move 2017 after Rapid Round 3

Your Next Move 2017 is the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2017, which is currently happening in the city of Leuven in Belgium. Just like the GCT Paris, Your Next Move comprises 9 rounds of rapid games and 18 blitz games. Rapid games are scored 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw, while the Blitz are scored the normal way of 1 point for a win and 1/2 for draw.

On Your Next Move 2017 Day 1, Wesley So defeated Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen to lead the tournament after 3 rapid rounds.[replay]

Guijarro leads Gibraltar 2017 with 1 round to go

GM David Anton Guijarro

David Anton Guijarro beats Veselin Topalov in the penultimate Round 9 of Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017 ([replay]) to take the solo lead with 1 round to go. He might only be the 24th seed (ELO 2650) coming into this tournament, but he finds himself ahead of household names in the chess world such as Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Michael Adams, Boris Gelfand, and especially Fabiano Caruana.

Caruana is having a hard time in this tournament after he lost to Nigel Short in the 6th round and drew with several lower rated players in earlier rounds before that, thus he’s at No. 12 in the ranking after Round 9. He’s currently at 3rd place in the live ratings with 2819.7. He’s set to face Varuzhan Akobian in the final round.