Chess: Carlsen goes head to head with Ding Liren as world top two meet

A head to head between the world champion and the leading pretender to the throne can be a game to savour. Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren are both playing in the online Chessable Masters, which began on Thursday with an all-play-all of 16, followed next week by a knockout of the top eight.

Carlsen and Ding are paired in Sunday evening’s 15th and final all-play-all round, but even if both are already qualified there could still be a battle as Carlsen always wants to be top seeded for the knockout stage. There they would be likely to meet again, either in Tuesday’s semi-finals or in the two-day final on Wednesday and Thursday.

After four rounds China’s No 2, Wei Yi, led with three wins and a draw, followed by Carlsen, Ding, and Anish Giri tied for second place.

Ding had to play 26 rated games in a hurry last month to ensure he qualified for the Candidates, but he was unbeaten and scored a brilliancy based on a long distance attack.

Meanwhile, the four Candidates who played in Bucharest as a warmup all finished in the bottom half. In particular, Alireza Firouzja was unrecognisable as the 18-year-old who wowed the chess world last autumn and became the youngest ever to reach a 2800 rating.

The most entertaining match of the week came in Tuesday’s semi-final of the junior speed championship, in which Arjun Erigaisi knocked out Hans Niemann in a fluctuating series of 5/1 blitz, 3/1 blitz, and 1/1 bullet. Both 18-year-olds have been in fine form this year, surging into the world top 100 as the Indian crushed the Wijk masters group while the American won at Havana and Malmö, and their clash was a little like watching Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer transported from the 1950s for a speed match. Niemann’s win in the first featured