Chess: Magnus Carlsen stimulus missed as Levon Aronian wins in Düsseldorf

Last week’s WR Masters in Düsseldorf, Germany, looked on paper an interesting opportunity for potential rivals to Magnus Carlsen to showcase their skills, and for the new generation of teenage grandmasters to measure their development against the established top 10.

In the event, Düsseldorf fell slightly short on both counts. Levon Aronian won the €40,000 first prize, a fine recovery from a poor year in 2022, but at age 40, and with a history of failure in the Candidates, he is no longer a world title contender. His victory seemed assured when he dominated the first half of the tournament and led with 4/5, but then his rhythm was disrupted by a peculiar incident.

Generally the top GMs are experts in the small print of chess rules, but Aronian mistakenly claimed a draw by threefold repetition when the position had occurred only twice. His opponent, Ian Nepomniachtchi, who up to that point in the tournament had been quietly coasting and getting his mind into shape before his world title match with China’s Ding Liren next month, reasoned: “If he wants a draw that badly, I should push”.

The Candidates winner did it cleverly, offering a further twofold repetition before avoiding a third, and Aronian then lost the plot, allowing his opponent to create a winning attack.

Nepomniachtchi was still half a point behind at the start of the final round, but again had good fortune as his opponent, Vincent Keymer, overpressed. Aronian, Nepomniachtchi and 16-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh tied for first on 5.5/9, and Aronian won the blitz tie-break.

Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 18, have now broken into the world top 20. The Indian is two years younger, and on an age for rating scale is starting to compare with the world No 4, Alireza