Magnus Carlsen survived a fierce onslaught from Ding Liren today to set up a dream final in his own $140,000 online signature tournament.
The World Chess Champion was right on the brink of being dumped out in a topsy-turvy white-knuckle rollercoaster ride of a fourth set.
Ding, the highest-rated Chinese player in history, missed a string of chances to pull off a shock result as the regular rapid chess games finished 2-2.
A blitz chess play-off followed and in the final tiebreaker game, Chinese number 1 collapsed under pressure to send Carlsen through to the grand final of Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals benefiting Kiva.
Carlsen, who looked visibly exhausted after today’s grueling match, said: „I can’t believe that I actually escaped, but that is the way it is sometimes.“
More Stories
Fair Play Team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest 2024
New Guinness World Records Title: Over seven million chess games played in one day!
Team lineups announced for record-breaking 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest
From Paris and the world with chess: FIDE celebrates 100 years since its founding
Happy Internationaler Schach-Tag!
100 Jahre Förderung und Regieren des Schachspiels