Carlsen: 'The most difficult match against Quang Liem'

In the first four games of the tournament, Carlsen won all four without going into a tie-break. In it, he surpassed three competitors in the Top 15 in the world such as Wesley So, Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The Norwegian player played 13 games in which, won nine and drew four, without losing a game. He earned a full $30,000 in prize money from these four matches.

But Carlsen's perfect achievement was stopped by Quang Liem in the fifth round, after nearly five hours of competition on the morning of November 19, Hanoi time. "The match against Quang Liem was much more difficult than some other matches," Carlsen said after the match. "He played well but I couldn't find the rhythm after the first game."

Carlsen still beat Quang Liem 4-3 after the "life and death" armageddon game in the tie-break. But that means he lost the perfect record. The Norwegian player did not win the full 7,500 USD as in the previous four matches, but had to divide 2,500 USD for Quang Liem. "I wanted to be absolutely perfect in the Tour Finals, but now I can't," Carlsen said. "But I really want to win this, and I will if I win tomorrow."

Carlsen won the first game against Quang Liem, extending the winning streak to eight games. But in the second game of the match, he received his first defeat in the tournament. In the tie-break, the world champion won the first blitz, but lost the next game. The two players played a game of life and death when Quang Liem held the black piece and only needed a draw to win the match. Carlsen demonstrated the bravery of the five-time world champion, winning both in terms of position and time in the decisive game.

"I played really badly at blitz this match," added Carlsen. "But in armageddon, I didn't understand Quang Liem's ​​opening choice. He traded statues and knights for a rook, but in blitz chess, light pieces like a steed had the upper hand. In the decisive moment, the point was. The key lies in the fact that Quang Liem was unable to speed up the competition."

At one point in the final game, Carlsen spent 90 seconds on a move, when he had only five minutes for the whole game. After that move, Quang Liem was even better in time, in a balanced position according to the computer's assessment. But then it was the turn of the Vietnamese player who took a lot of time to think and put him in a difficult position, finally having to apologize when the time was almost up.

The Champions Chess Tour final round takes place from November 15 to November 21 with eight players including Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Quang Liem, Giri, Mamedyarov, Erigaisi Arjun and So. After five rounds, the number one player in Vietnam ranked fourth with a prize of 20,000 USD. He will meet Erigaisi Arjun in the sixth round, also the penultimate round, at 3 am 20/11 Hanoi time.