Skilling Open
The Skilling Open was an online rapid chess tournament that took place from November 22 to November 30, 2020. It was the first tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2021, preceding the Airthings Masters. American Wesley So defeated the reigning World Chess Champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, on the latter's 30th birthday to secure the first prize of $30,000.[1]
Coverage and Stakes
Coverage and stakes are in accordance with the general outline of the Champions Chess Tour 2021.
Participants
The participants were chosen based on invites given by the event organizers.
| Nr. | Name | Classic ELO rating (November 2020)[2] |
Classic World Ranking (November 2020) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2862 | 1 |
| 2 | Ding Liren | 2791 | 3 |
| 3 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2784 | 4 |
| 4 | Anish Giri | 2764 | 11 |
| 5 | Wesley So | 2770 | 9 |
| 6 | Vidit Gujrathi | 2726 | 25 |
| 7 | Peter Svidler | 2723 | 26 |
| 8 | Teimour Radjabov | 2765 | 10 |
| 9 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2736 | 20 |
| 10 | Lê Quang Liêm | 2709 | 31 |
| 11 | Sergey Karjakin | 2752 | 17 |
| 12 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2743 | 19 |
| 13 | Levon Aronian | 2781 | 6 |
| 14 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2784 | 5 |
| 15 | David Antón Guijarro | 2675 | 62 |
| 16 | Alireza Firouzja | 2749 | 18 |
Format
The tournament began with a 3-day round-robin preliminary round from November 22 to November 24. Each player played one game against all the other players for 15 total matches. The top 8 point-getters from the preliminary round advance to the knockout rounds and are seeded based on points to determine the bracket. In the case of ties, they use the following tiebreakers:
- Points won in games involving the tied players
- Total number of victories
- Sonneborn–Berger score
- Koya Score
For each of the knockout rounds, each matchup plays 2 matches of 4 rapid games on back-to-back days. If either player does not lose either match, he advances to the next round. If each player wins one match, there is a tiebreaker on day 2 consisting of 2 blitz games. If the players split the 2 blitz games, they play an Armageddon match (White has 5 minutes, Black has 4 minutes, draw is a win for Black) to determine who advances. The higher seed in the matchup gets to pick the color for the first game, the color for the first blitz tiebreaker game, and the color for the Armageddon.[3]
Results
Preliminary round
| Name | ELO | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Magnus Carlsen | 2862 | - | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 02 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2736 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 9 |
| 03 | Wesley So | 2770 | ½ | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 8.5 |
| 04 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2784 | 1 | 0 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 8.5 |
| 05 | Levon Aronian | 2781 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | - | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.5 |
| 06 | Teimour Radjabov | 2765 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | - | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 07 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2784 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 8 |
| 08 | Anish Giri | 2764 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | - | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 8 |
| 09 | Alireza Firouzja | 2749 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | - | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 10 | Lê Quang Liêm | 2709 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 8 |
| 11 | Ding Liren | 2791 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 7.5 |
| 12 | Vidit Gujrathi | 2726 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 6.5 |
| 13 | David Antón Guijarro | 2675 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 |
| 14 | Peter Svidler | 2723 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | - | ½ | ½ | 6 |
| 15 | Sergey Karjakin | 2752 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | - | 1 | 5.5 |
| 16 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2743 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | - | 4.5 |
Play-offs
Note: Scores are shown as matches won/drawn, where 1 point is award for a 4-game match won, and 0.5 for a 4-game match drawn.
| Quarterfinal (November 25-26) | Semifinal (November 27-28) | Final (November 29-30) | ||||||||
| Carlsen | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Giri | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Carlsen | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Nepomniachtchi | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Aronian | 1 | |||||||||
| Nepomniachtchi | 2 | |||||||||
| Carlsen | 0.5 | |||||||||
| So* | 1.5 | |||||||||
| So* | 2 | |||||||||
| Radjabov | 1 | |||||||||
| So | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Nakamura | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1 | |||||||||
| Nakamura* | 2 | |||||||||
*These players each prevailed in the Armageddon.
References
- "Wesley So crashes Carlsen's 30th birthday party to win the Skilling Open". chess24.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
- "FIDE Top players November 2020". fide.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
- "Champions Chess Tour Regulations". championschesstour.com. Retrieved 2020-12-28.