Chess: Caruana equals Carlsen’s record as Kasparov criticises world title match

Fabiano Caruana, the world No 3 and US champion, displayed his new mastery of speed chess last week when he won the SuperUnited Zagreb Rapid and Blitz, part of the St Louis-organised Grand Chess Tour, with a 27/36 points total, equalling Magnus Carlsen’s record for the event. Caruana was sure of ­victory with five rounds to spare.

There were nine rounds each of rapid (G25+10) and blitz (G5+2) with the former counting double points. The total prize fund was $175,000. In nine years of theTour there have been 10 rapid/blitz totals of 24.5 or higher, five by the dominant Carlsen and one each by Caruana, Alireza ­Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, Wei Yi, and Wesley So.

Caruana played some impressive games, including the final rapid round against Anish Giri for which he and his coach, Grigoriy Oparin, named his prepared opening 6 Qd3 and 7 g3 the “Delayed Zagreb” as 6 g3 is already known as the Zagreb against the Najdorf Sicilian. ­Caruana’s final move 41 Qa7! came as a shock to his opponent.

The Zagreb result is a significant boost for Caruana, who has honed his speed game in the years ­following the disastrous conclusion to his 2018 world title challenge, where the American held his own with Carlsen through 12 hard-fought draws before being routed 3-0 in the rapid tie-breakers.

Now Caruana has advanced all the way to No 2 behind Carlsen in Fide’s rapid ratings, and to No 6 in blitz. In top chess, small margins matter. If Caruana had converted his winning endgame against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates in April, he and India’s Dommaraju Gukesh would have met in a speed tie-break, with the American a heavy favourite. Gukesh ­finished last of 10 in the Zagreb blitz, losing five games in a single day.

Garry Kaaparov, the former world champion, who is one of the Grand Chess Tour organisers and was present in Zagreb, took aim in a recent post on X at Gukesh and Ding Liren, who will meet for the crown in Singapore over 14 games in November-December.

Kasparov wrote: “The world championship match should be the match between the two strongest players. Definitely, that’s not the case … it’s an interesting match. I can hardly call it a world championship.”

Kasparov has form for this kind of comment, notably in 2023 when he called Ding v Nepomniachtchi “a kind of amputated event” and in 2012 when he criticised Boris Gelfand, at that time the world No 20, becoming the challenger to Vishy Anand, then No 4.

Clearly Ding and Gukesh are legitimate contenders, and the absence of the No 1 has been caused by Carlsen voluntarily renouncing the title. That said, Kasparov has a point. He played eight world championship matches, of which five were against Anaroly Karpov, the then No 1 or No 2, two were against Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, who were leading contenders, while Nigel Short in 1993 had convincingly defeated Karpov en route to becoming the challenger.

In contrast, only one of the most recent nine title matches has been No 1 v No 2, Carlsen v Caruana in 2018. Most others have been close, and even Ding v Nepomniachtchi in 2023 was No 2 v No 3.

In 2024 Ding has been struggling throughout the year with poor form and ill-health, while Gukesh’s results since becoming challenger have been below par, so for 2024 on the live classical ratings the world championship is currently No 6 v No 15. Ding v Gukesh is an entirely legitimate match , but if the quality of the games is low its credibility may be questioned.

The Crunchlabs Masters, the latest event of the online Champions Tour, began on Wednesday, and continues next week. Carlsen, who was scheduled to compete at Zagreb but withdrew due to the death of his mother, Sigrun Øen, at age 61, will be the favourite.

The Mindsports International Open, which began on Thursday, is an interesting and strong event where European grandmasters and masters take on English experts and young talents. Play is at the London Mindports Centre and top games are viewable daily online at lichess.

3929 1 Qxh4+! Kxh4 2 Rh7+ Kg5 3 h4 mate.