Magnus Carlsen convincingly wins Shamkir chess tournament
World champion Magnus Carlsen won the Shamkir Chess tournament after beating Rauf Mamedov in the ninth and final round on Sunday.
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Playing white, the World No 1 beat his Azerbaijani opponent in 35 moves to score seven points.
Carlsen went into Sunday’s last round knowing that a draw would be enough to win the title.
And it did look that the position was equal till the 34th move. However, Mamedov committed a blunder on his 35th move thereby gifting Carlsen an easy win.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand, who was trailing Carlsen by half a point before the final round, could only manage a draw against Fabiano Caruana.
Anand finished second on six points ahead of Wesley So who drew against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
The game between Michael Adams and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ended in a draw.
Anand’s impressive performance has meant that he is now placed second in live world rankings.
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