Magnus Carlsen reaffirmed his status as the greatest of all time with a commanding victory in just 23 moves against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Game 1 of the ongoing Weissenhaus quarter-finals of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The World No. 1 demonstrated his exceptional skill, concluding the match after only 21 moves, leading to his opponent's resignation. Abdusattorov now finds himself trailing 0-1 and will have the opportunity to challenge Carlsen again tomorrow, aiming for a comeback.

The Weissenhaus Grand Slam, which also features Chess960, includes several intriguing elements, one of which is the confession booth. This unique aspect gained attention on Sunday during the quarter-finals, with notable players such as Levon Aronian making use of it during their matches.

Magnus Carlsen's confession

The booth serves as a space for grandmasters to confess their strategic decisions, where they reflect on their current or past games and disclose any overlooked moves. Notably, Carlsen utilized the confession booth during his quarter-final match, which caused a significant stir among fans.

“If I manage to, let’s say, he had captured the pawn right away, I would advance with g3, compensating for the Queen and safeguarding the pawn by moving to d5. I believe I could then deliver a check with the bishop. After he blocks the check, I can manoeuvre the rook from b1 to d1, effectively castling. As far as I understand, the rules permit this.

“At first, I was puzzled by his actions because now with g3… The issue is that his bishop is controlling the squares along the diagonal. Thus, it appeared illogical to capture the rook, and tactically, g5 was vulnerable in some scenarios, even if he was defending e6. However, I think that was his concern. Now, d5 seemed quite unattractive without control over the light squares. Therefore, I believe I can bring the queen to e4 and gain a slight advantage,” he concluded.

Carlsen further demonstrated his position as World No. 1 in the concluding round of the round-robin phase by achieving a decisive victory over the current world champion, D Gukesh.

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