World Chess Cup Winner Decided in Baku

Azerbaijani chess player Nijat Abasov did not manage to win the Baku World Cup.
The World Chess Cup ended in Baku, and the 16th world champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway) became the winner.
On Thursday, August 24, the tie-breaks of the final and the third place match of the World Chess Cup took place in the capital. In the final match, Magnus Carlsen defeated the Indian Rameshbabu Praggnanandha and won the World Cup for the first time in his career.

After drawing in two classical games, Carlsen first won the first rapid game in the tie-break, and then drew the second leg. As a result, the Norwegian won the final match with a total score of 2.5:1.5.
It is also worth noting that Magnus won all the tournaments in Azerbaijan in which he took part. In 2008, in Baku, the Norwegian shared 1-3 places at the FIDE Grand Prix stage. In addition, he has two victories at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial, which was held in Shamkir.

Returning to the World Cup, we note that Nijat Abasov could not take third place, losing to the American Fabiano Caruana with a score of 1:3. Having won the first game with classical time control, he lost the second one. At the tie-break, Abasov lost in two rapid games. As a result, Caruana became the third, and Abasov - the fourth.
It should be reminded that at the World Cup in Baku, vouchers for the Candidates Tournament were also raffled off, which will be awarded to the top three winners of the Baku competition. Considering that earlier Carlsen announced that he was not going to participate in the championship cycle, the rest of the semi-finalists become contenders. It remains only to wait for the official refusal from Carlsen.

source: az.sputniknews