Chess: Carlsen set for challenge from US quartet online and over-the-board

Magnus Carlsen’s reign as an abdicated world champion will formally end late next month when a winner is declared in the €2m, 14-game match for the newly vacant title between the world No 2, Ian Nepomniachtchi, playing under a neutral Fide flag, and the world No 3, Ding Liren. The venue is Astana, Kazakhstan, which borders both Russia and China.

Some chess fans may not recognise the Astana winner as a genuine world champion, and for them there is now the prospect of two major events, one online and the other over-the-board. Carlsen, still No 1 in the classical rankings and still the world rapid and blitz champion, will take on the four top US grandmasters, all of whom have had their moments against the Norwegian in previous tournaments and matches.

Before that, there is the second American Cup at St Louis, starting on Friday, a $200,000 invitation knockout which Fabiano Caruana won last year. Caruana’s main rivals this time are likely to be his fellow world top‑11 GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian. Games will be live and free to watch with commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jovanka Houska and others. There will also be a women’s American Cup with a $100,000 prize fund.

Next up, starting 3 April at 4pm and overlapping with the world title match which begins four days later, is the second leg of the online Champions Tour, where the seeded players Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana and So are joined by four qualifiers from the Play-In, open to all grandmasters. One of those four, after fighting his way through a nine-round Swiss, is Aronian; and also in the mix is Le Quang Liem who, although he competes for Vietnam, is a US resident and the Head Coach for Webster University’s chess team.

Norway Chess at Stavanger (29