Nine wins in a row. What are the chances? That’s how Magnus Carlsen began on the first day of blitz (fast) chess at the the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour. My guesstimate is that Carlsen wins no more than half of his blitz games against the standard of opposition that he faced in Croatia, where his toughest rivals included Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi. So I think you would be more likely to see a coin land on heads nine times in a row than for Carlsen to repeat that achievement. (In slower games, where decisive games are less frequent, his chances would be lower still.)

Of course it took some luck here and there, as blitz chess always does, but the former world champion looked dizzy with delight, beaming like a child and describing his achievement as ‘really special’. On the second day of blitz he scored ‘only’ 6/9, but combined with a strong showing in the rapid event that was enough to leave the Norwegian as a comfortable winner in the combined standings.

His most striking game was this one, played in the rapid event, in which an imaginative tactical shot from Duda backfires thanks to a brilliant riposte.

Magnus Carlsen-Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Grand Chess Tour SuperUnited Rapid, Croatia, July 2023

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3 dxc4 5 Bg2 c5 6 O-O Nc6 7 Qa4 Bd7 Being greedy with 7…cxd4 doesn’t work out well here: 8 Nxd4! Qxd4 9 Bxc6+ Bd7 10 Rd1! Bxc6 11 Qxc6+ bxc6 12 Rxd4 leaves Black with a blighted pawn structure. 8 Qxc4 cxd4 9 Nxd4 Rc8 10 Nc3 Nxd4 11 Qxd4 Bc5 12 Qh4 Bc6 Grandmasters of Duda’s calibre suffer calamities in the opening only very rarely. But it happened in a game in Dusseldorf earlier this year, where Wesley So played 13 Rd1, which Duda met with 13…Qb6. After 14 Bxc6+ Rxc6 15 Bh6! Black was in huge trouble, e.g. 15…O-O 16 Bxg7! Kxg7 17 Qg5+ is awful, while 15…Bxf2+ 16 Kg2 only exacerbates the problem. Duda tried 15…Bf8 but after 16 Rd3, his position was already beyond repair, since his king could not escape the centre. This trap has been known at least since the game Portisch-Radulov in 1978, claiming 20 victims, including several grandmasters. 13 Bxc6+ Rxc6 14 Rd1 Qa5 Duda is ready with his improvement on the game mentioned above. The purpose of placing the queen on a5 is that 15 Bh6 O-O 16 Bxg7 Bxf2+! works out fine for Black, as after 17 Kxf2 Kxg7 the g5 square is guarded so the position is equal. 15 Bg5 Be7 16 Rac1 h6 I suspect that Duda was trying to lure Carlsen into a trap here, but it backfires spectacularly. Better was 13…O-O, when 14 Ne4 Qe5 15 Nxf6+ Bxf6 16 Bxf6 gxf6 is about equal. 17 Ne4 Rxc1 17…Qe5 was the lesser evil, but 18 Rxc6 bxc6 19 Nxf6+ Bxf6 20 Bxf6 gxf6 21 Qb4 is grim to behold. 18 Rxc1 Nxe4 19 Bxe7 Qd2 (see diagram) Duda’s point is that White cannot win a rook: 20 Rc8+ Kd7 21 Rxh8 Qe1+ 22 Kg2 Qxf2+ 23 Kh3 Qf1+ 24 Kg4 Qf5 mate. 20 Bg5! Spectacular. The h6-pawn is pinned, while after a queen exchange on g5 White could collect the Rh8 with Rc8+. 20…Qxe2 21 Be3! Nd6 22 Qd4 also wins easily. All that remains is the move Duda tried: Nxg5 21 Rc8+ Ke7 22 Rxh8 Qxe2 23 Qb4+ Kf6 24 Qf4+ Kg6 25 Kg2 With a safer king, Duda would be in with a chance, but Carlsen soon creates decisive threats. e5 26 Qe3 Qxb2 27 h4 Ne6 28 Qe4+ Kf6 29 Re8 Qb5 30 Rb8 Nc5 31 Qd5 a6 32 Rf8 Black resigns