Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, visited central London last weekend and won the chess.com speed championship for the fourth time in a row. The Norwegian, 35, defeated France’s Alireza Firouzja, 22, by 15-12 after a three-hour struggle. Last year in Paris the same two players met, but Carlsen’s winning margin was a much wider 23.5-7.5.
The format for speed chess is 90 minutes of five-minutes blitz, 60 minutes of three-minutes blitz, and 30 minutes of one minute bullet. All the segments had additional increments of one second per move.
