Chess: Magnus Carlsen blames opponent’s watch for shock defeat

Last week, the European Club Cup, the chess version of the Champions League, was staged in Durres, Albania. Magnus Carlsen was the star attraction and the world No 1 did not disappoint, making the best top board score of 5/6 and leading his Offerspill Oslo team to the gold medals. The winning squad consisted primarily of Norwegians, boosted by two strong Indian GMs.

Carlsen has won six of his last eight over-the-board or online events and finished second in the other two. The contrast is glaring with the official world champion, Ding Liren. It is now nearly five months since Ding last pushed a pawn in public.

His absence from the individual and team competitions at last month’s Asian Games, staged in his home city Hangzhou, passed without explanation in Chinese media – Wei Yi and Bu Xiangzhi substituted. After Hangzhou there is no obvious event where Ding could be expected to return and speculation is bound to grow that he will not even appear for his first scheduled world title defence in autumn 2024.

In the decade when Guildford dominated Britain’s national 4NCL league, the Surrey club hardly ever sent teams to the Euro Club Cup. Part of the problem was that several of Guildford’s stars were committed to other European teams. Now, Wood Green is a leading 4NCL team, and the North Londoners sent not only a strong men’s squad to Durres but also a boasted women’s team which was effectively England in disguise: Jovanka Houska, Lan Yao, Harriet Hunt, Katarzyna Toma and Akshaya Kalaiyalahan.

Seeded eighth, they finished 10th. Houska won the individual bronze, Lan Yao the individual silver. It was her fourth WGM norm, her title application is already with Fide, but her next target, an IM norm at men’s or open level, remains