The Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2020 was an

online chess Online chess is chess that is played over the Internet, allowing players to play against each other in real time. This is done through the use of Internet chess servers, which often include a system to pair up individual players based on their rat ...

tournament that ran from 18 April to 3 May 2020 as the first round of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. In addition to the world chess champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has ...

, who organized the tournament,

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United St ...

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vac ...

Alireza Firouzja Alireza Firouzja ( fa, علی‌رضا فیروزجا, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800- rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months ...

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri ( ne, अनीश कुमार गिरी; russian: Аниш Кумар Гири; born 28 June 1994) is a Russian-born Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the title Grandmaster at ...

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraIan Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

, and

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest ...

took part in the event. The tournament received media attention as one of the few sports events during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The tournament was structured as a series of mini-matches, consisting of four games of

rapid chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, bli ...

, if needed followed by two rounds of

blitz chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...

(semi-finals and final only), if needed followed by an

Armageddon According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...

tie-break. The winner after rapid games received 3 points, the loser 0 points; if a tie-break was necessary, the winner received 2 points and the loser 1 point. The eight players played a round robin with the top four advancing to the semi-finals. Carlsen beat Nakamura in the final to win the tournament. The tournament was broadcast by Chess24.com with

Jan Gustafsson Jan Gustafsson (born 25 June 1979) is a German chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2003. He is a co-founder of Chess24.com, and regularly analyses and commentates games for the website. Biography Gustafsson was born ...

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently comment ...

Tania Sachdev Tania Sachdev (born 20 August 1986) is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a two-time Indian women's chess champion in 2006 and 2007, one-time Asian women's chess ...

and

Lawrence Trent Lawrence Trent (born 28 April 1986) is an English International Master chess player and commentator. Trent has host-commentated for major FIDE tournaments, including the World Chess Championship Finals for Anand–Carlsen (2013), World Candidate ...

providing most of the commentary.

Group stage results

Group stage standings

Play-offs

References

{{Reflist

External links

Magnus Carlsen Invitational
official website
All games on chess24.com
2020 in chess 2020 in video gaming Chess competitions April 2020 sports events May 2020 sports events Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports Magnus Carlsen