CHESS #1353

Magnus Carlsen ripped off another dominating performance to take the first Grand Chess Event in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with quite a lot to spare. Carlsen ended with a record score of 26.5 despite two losses to Maxime Vachier Lagrave. MVL and Hikaru Nakamura shared second-third with 23 each. Carlsen scored 15/18 in the Rapid (double-scoring) and 11.5/18 in the Blitz where MVL actually scored 12.   

Naka lost a clutch last round game to Carlsen when he looked set to take clear second. This takes the world champion to 2,900-plus on both Rapid and Blitz ratings. It’s the sixth tournament he’s