World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his Esports World Cup chess title after completing an unbeaten campaign with a dominant victory over Denis Lazavik in Saturday’s final. The Norwegian beat the Belarusian grandmaster 2-0, winning both sets 3-1 to cap a near-perfect tournament.
Carlsen, representing Team Liquid, earned USD 250,000 and 1,000 Club Championship points with the victory. Speaking after the final, the five-time world champion explained how he approached Lazavik differently after studying his games and discussing his style with the coaching staff.
“I followed Denis’ games and talked to the coaches. I do feel, especially with Hikaru’s approach, it was not right. Funny thing is, I said that he is not great at defending endgames, so I thought I should keep it together better than Hikaru,” Carlsen said.
“I have played Denis many times online, where I played riskily and got punished for it, so I didn’t give him obvious positional advantages.”
Carlsen admitted that his unbeaten run was not without moments of danger, particularly during his matches against Alireza Firouzja and Nihal Sarin. However, he was delighted to finish the tournament without suffering a defeat.
“There were several moments, a couple against Alireza, against Nihal as well. There were certainly some moments, but I am thrilled to go undefeated,” he said.
“I was not trying to do anything out of the ordinary. I tried to take my chances, with a little bit of randomness, and I am happy.”
The victory earned Carlsen another major title in the fast-growing esports version of competitive chess, while Lazavik finished runner-up with USD 190,000 and 750 Club Championship points for AG.AL.
NAKAMURA TAKES THIRD AFTER CHAOTIC MATCH
Hikaru Nakamura claimed third place after beating Firouzja 4-1 in a match disrupted by multiple technical problems and disconnections. Firouzja left the venue after the fourth game, with Nakamura leading 3-1, and officials later awarded the remaining result as a forfeit.
“Today’s match with Alireza certainly didn’t go well for anyone. It was chaos with multiple disconnections and then Alireza’s untimely departure from the event,” Nakamura wrote on X.
Nakamura initially blamed chess.com for the technical problems but later apologised after learning that the issue had originated with the Esports World Cup and had affected other competitions as well.
“I now know I was wrong. It was an EWC issue that took out a few events, not just chess,” Nakamura said.
The championship used a best-of-three sets format, with the first two sets featuring four games each and a two-game decider available if required.
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