World Championship in Fischer Random Chess 2019

The World Championship in Fischer Random Chess 2019 (official title: 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship , short: WFRCC ) was the first world championship in this discipline officially organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE . In the final, the American Wesley So defeated the unofficial defending champion and world champion in classic chess Magnus Carlsen with 13.5: 2.5 points, making him the first official world champion in Fischer random chess . The bronze medal was won by Jan Nepomnjashchi from Russia .

The competition started on April 28, 2019 with the first qualifying tournaments, which were held online and were open to all interested participants. After several elimination rounds, a final round in the style of a Final Four was held at Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter in Bærum , Norway , from October 27th to November 2nd, 2019 . In the course of the entire competition, various time limits were used , with games with a longer cooling time being weighted more heavily.

course

The world championship was divided into several stages with different reflection time regulations, organizational forms and access requirements.

First qualifying round

The first qualification phase was open to all interested chess players without a title and was played online via the chess.com chess portal . In 32 groups, 9 rounds of the Swiss system were played with a time limit of 10 minutes for the whole game plus 2 seconds time credit per move. Five players from each group, a total of 160 players, qualified for the second qualifying round.

Second qualifying round

In the second qualifying round, the 160 qualifiers from the first qualifying round and all FIDE titleholders were eligible to play. 8 rounds of the Swiss system were played, also with a time limit of 10 minutes plus a 2 second increment. The seven best players from each of the 12 groups (84 in total) qualified for the third qualifying round.

Third qualifying round

The 84 qualifiers from the second qualifying round were divided into 6 groups of 14 players each. Each group was completed by two invited chess players. The mode of competition differed significantly from the two previous qualifying rounds. The 16 participants in each group were paired using a seeding list. Then there was a knockout tournament . In each round, the two players in the pairing played a “mini match” consisting of two games with swapped colors. In the case of a tie, another mini Match initially was shortened to think as a tie-break game, if still a tie, there was a third, again truncated mini match. If no decision was made after three mini-matches, the pairing was decided by an Armageddon game .

While there were more or less big surprises in the first two qualifying rounds, in the third qualifying round, without exception, players who also occupied top places in the world rankings in classical chess prevailed . Nevertheless, some well-known players fell by the wayside, such as Duda , Karjakin , Grishchuk and Dominguez . The following 6 players qualified for the quarter-finals:

Surname	Association	Elo rating
Jan Nepomnyashchi	Russia	2775
Alireza Firouzja	Iran	2685
Santosh Vidit	India	2703
Peter Swidler	Russia	2737
Vladimir Fedoseyev	Russia	2681
Wesley So	United States	2763

The vice world champion in classical chess Fabiano Caruana and the loser of the unofficial Fischer-Random World Cup 2018 Hikaru Nakamura (both USA) were also qualified by free places .

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals were played from October 4th to 6th. On the first day there were matches between two players. The four losers competed in pairs against each other on the second day in a kind of reunion . The winners of the first day and the winners of the second day played in pairs against each other on the third day, so that in the end there were three players who are qualified for the semi-finals: Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Jan Nepomnjashchi. Each match of the quarter-finals consisted of 2 "slow" rapid chess games (45 min for 40 moves + 15 min for the rest, without increment), two "fast" rapid chess games (15 min + 2 s increment) and 2 blitz chess games (3 min + 2 s Increment). The games were weighted differently: 3 points for the slow fast games, 2 points for the fast fast games and 1 point for the blitz games. Only once was it drawn after the 6 games, namely in the match between Alireza Firouzja and Jan Nepomnjaschtschi on the first day. In the subsequent Armageddon game Jan Nepomnjaschtschi was able to prevail.

day 1

Peter Swidler	5	7th	Fabiano Caruana
Wesley So	3	9	Hikaru Nakamura
Vladimir Fedoseyev	8th	4th	Santosh Gujrathi Vidit
Alireza Firouzja	6th	7th	Jan Nepomnyashchi

Day 2 (reunion)

Santosh Gujrathi Vidit	4½	7½	Alireza Firouzja
Wesley So	6½	5½	Peter Swidler

Day 3

Vladimir Fedoseyev	5	7th	Wesley So
Hikaru Nakamura	1½	6½	Fabiano Caruana
Jan Nepomnyashchi	6½	3½	Alireza Firouzja

The matches between Caruana and Nakamura and between Nepomnjaschtschi and Firouzja were canceled after the respective winner had been determined by reaching 6½ points. Even the match between So and Fedosejew was decided in So's favor after the third game 6½: 1½. Nevertheless, the two opponents decided to play the remaining three games, although they had become meaningless for the semi-final qualification.

Semifinals and finals

The semi-finals and the final took place from October 27th to November 2nd. In the semi-finals, the three qualifiers from the quarter-finals met the reigning world champion in classical chess and the unofficial world champion in Fischer random chess Magnus Carlsen .

Time schedule

date	Event	mode
October 27	Semi-finals, games 1 and 2	45 min for 40 moves + 15 min for the rest, 3 points for a win
28th of October	Semi-finals, games 3 and 4
October 29th	Semi-finals, games 5 to 8	15 min + 2 s increment, 2 points for a win
	Semi-finals, games 9 to 12	3 min + 2 s increment, 1 point for a win
	Semi-finals, tie-break (if necessary)	4 min for white, 5 min for black, white must win
30th of October	Rest day
October 31	Final / game for 3rd place, games 1 and 2	45 min for 40 moves + 15 min for the rest, 3 points for a win
November 1st	Final / game for 3rd place, games 3 and 4
November 2	Final / game for 3rd place, games 5 to 8	15 min + 2 s increment, 2 points for a win
	Final / game for 3rd place, games 9 to 12	3 min + 2 s increment, 1 point for a win
	Final / 3rd place match, tie-break (if necessary)	4 min for white, 5 min for black, white must win

Semifinals

In both semifinals, a preliminary decision was made early on: Wesley So was already after seven games for his opponent Jan Nepomnjaschtschi unassailable. Magnus Carlsen succeeded in the same one game later, so that the originally scheduled and outstanding games were no longer played.

In Game No. 5 between Jan Nepomnjaschtschi and Wesley So there was a curiosity: In the basic position the white king was on e1 and a white rook on g1. When Nepomnyashchi wanted to castle briefly on the ninth move , he raised the tower to make room for the king. The referee advised the Russian that touching the tower obliges him to make a tower move. For castling he should have touched the king first. Nepomnyashchi then moved 9. Rf1, but filed a protest after the game because he obviously had no intention of moving the rook. In addition, it is almost impossible to perform castling in accordance with the rules, since the g1 square is blocked by the rook. It was then decided that the game would have to be repeated. In the replay game, both players initially played exactly the same moves. This time, Nepomnyashchi demonstratively performed castling correctly. The replay game also ended in a draw. Wesley So stayed out of the matter completely and accepted the game again without complaint.

player	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	TB	total
	Rapid, long				Rapid chess, in short				lightning				Armageddon
	3 points per game				2 points per game				1 point per game				1 point per game
Magnus Carlsen	0	3	3	1½	1	2	0	2	-	-	-	-	-	12½
Fabiano Caruana	3	0	0	1½	1	0	2	0	-	-	-	-	-	7½
Jan Nepomnyashchi	1½	1½	0	0	1	0	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	5
Wesley So	1½	1½	3	3	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	13
Starting position	744	744	357	357	67	67	642	642	-	-	-	-	-

final

The final was extremely one-sided. Carlsen was never able to live up to his role as a favorite, so that So soon became the world champion in Chess960. In the interview that followed, Carlsen was ashamed of his own form, but also praised Wesley So's performance.

player	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	TB	total
	Rapid, long				Rapid chess, in short				lightning				Armageddon
	3 points per game				2 points per game				1 point per game				1 point per game
Wesley So	1½	3	3	3	1	2								13½
Magnus Carlsen	1½	0	0	0	1	0								2½
Starting position	294	294	729	729	253	253

Match for 3rd place

player	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	TB	total
	Rapid, long				Rapid chess, in short				lightning				Armageddon
	3 points per game				2 points per game				1 point per game				1 point per game
Jan Nepomnyashchi	0	3	3	1½	2	1	2							12½
Fabiano Caruana	3	0	0	1½	0	1	0							5½
Starting position	294	294	729	729	253	253	381

Web links

• Official website of the event , (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "The World Fischer Random Chess Championship is now officially recognized by FIDE", online on the FIDE homepage , accessed on April 21, 2019.
2. ↑ "Regulations for the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship": PDF (English), accessed on April 21, 2019.
3. ↑ Jonathan Tisdall : Second Chances In World Fischer Random Chess Quarterfinal , online at chess.com (English), accessed October 7, 2019.
4. ↑ Jonathan Tisdall : FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship Quarterfinals Kick Off , online at chess.com , accessed October 7, 2019.
5. ↑ Jonathan Tisdall : Caruana, So, Nepomniachtchi Headed To World Fischer Random Semifinals , online at chess.com (English), accessed October 7, 2019.
6. ↑ Jonathan Tisdall : Carlsen To Play So For Fischer Random World Championship , online at chess.com , accessed October 30, 2019
7. ↑ ^{a b c} For the meaning of the numbers, see two-table illustration
8. ↑ Jonathan Tisdall : Wesley So is Schach960 Weltmeister , online at chess.com, accessed on November 4, 2019