The 2024 Champions Chess Tour kicked off earlier this week with the return of the Chessable Masters. The first of four major online invitationals consisting of play-ins, qualifiers, and double-elimination matches across three divisions featured over 200 players eventually sorted into groups of eight, 16, and 32 (for Divisions I, II, and III, respectively) over the course of eight days of action.
Vincent Keymer won Division II of the Chessable Masters by beating Levon Aronian in the Grand Final Reset i.e. Aronian, who came from winning the losers’ bracket, beat Keymer in their first match of the day (the Grand Final per se). Similarly, Alexey Sarana won Division III in the Grand Final Reset, as he defeated Alexander Grischuk in a rematch. | Photo: WR Chess / Lennart Ootes
Alireza Firouzja took down Ian Nepomniachtchi and Denis Lazavik in back-to-back matches to reach the Grand Final in Division I of the Chessable Masters. Firouzja will get a rest day before facing Carlsen in Wednesday’s showdown. Tuesday will see the Grand Finals in Division II (Vincent Keymer v. Levon Aronian) and Division III (Alexander Grischuk v. Alexey Sarana). | Photo: Alireza Firouzja’s X account
Denis Lazavik and Magnus Carlsen advanced to the winners’ bracket final in Division I of the Chessable Masters. Lazavik defeated Jose Martinez, while Carlsen got the better of Vladimir Fedoseev. In the losers’ bracket, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Fedoseev remain in contention, as they knocked out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So respectively. | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
Control of the centre has been considered to be the heart of chess strategy from time immemorial. As José Raúl Capablanca pointed out, the fundamentals remain the same, though application may change in the course of time. The Cuban world champion wrote: “In chess the tactics may change but the strategic fundamental principles are always the same”. | GM Sundararajan Kidambi analyses three ‘hypermodern’ games.