Yet another stunning performance, yet another title! Magnus Carlsen scored 10/13 points throughout three days of play to grab his fifth World Rapid Championship title in Samarkand. The Norwegian obtained two wins in a row at the start of day 3 and managed to win the tournament outright with draws in the final two rounds. In the women’s tournament, Anastasia Bodnaruk beat Humpy Koneru in a blitz playoff to claim the title. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
There are no more perfect scores in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as all seven co-leaders drew their games in round 3, allowing a trio of youngsters to join the lead i.e. Sam Sevian (pictured), Marc’Andria Maurizzi and Javokhir Sindarov. In the women’s section, on the other hand, two players did win their three first games to keep perfect scores after Friday’s round: Tan Zhongyi, who beat Antoaneta Stefanova, and Anna Muzychuk, who got the better of Irina Bulmaga. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
As expected, hard-fought, exciting games were the norm on the opening day at the Grand Swiss tournaments on the Isle of Man. In the open, 32 players started with wins, including top seed Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport (pictured) and Levon Aronian. In the women’s event, meanwhile, 15 participants scored full points, with none of the top three seeds getting more than a draw. | Photo: Anna Shtourman