Berlin (dpa) - Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen started his super-online tournament with a befitting victory.
However, the 29-year-old Norwegian won his first round match against the American Hikaru Nakamura after a 2-2 result in the tie-break. After two wins by Carlsen and Nakamura, the favorite and rapid chess world champion prevailed in a fifth match with even shorter time to think.
The Chinese duel Liren won the second duel of the first round against the 16-year-old Iranian Alireza Firouzja, who competes under the flag of the world chess association Fide.
The invitation tournament with eight of the world's best grandmasters is endowed with $ 250,000. Games with reduced thinking time are played - each player has 15 minutes and 10 seconds for each move. In addition to Carlsen, five players will start who participated in the World Cup candidate tournament, which was canceled at the end of March in Yekaterinburg, Russia, after half-time. The Norwegian is also world champion in rapid and blitz chess.
Report on the FIDE homepage
Homepage Magnus Carlsen
Portal lichess.org