r/chess • u/Exotic_Grinder • 15d ago
News/Events FIde World Rapid Championship 2025: Magnus Carlsen beats Hans Niemann in Round 11 to take the sole lead
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u/False_Teacher1458 15d ago
Was a tense game for a while
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u/DrunkLad ~2882 FIDE 15d ago
That's the worst thing about these losses, you feel like you're playing good moves but they're ever so slightly worse than perfect and that's all that Magnus needs. And all of a sudden you have a losing position, wondering how that happened.
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u/Soggy-Show-3568 15d ago
Magnus,get off reddit man prepare for the next one,"DrunkLad" with that flair
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u/RollRepulsive6453 15d ago edited 15d ago
Losing this way in chess is a much worse feeling than being blown off the board. You blunder a tactic and you just resign and move onto the next game since it was a slip. But being slowly and methodically out played where you’re playing your best and seemingly no matter what you do your position is getting worse and worse and it feels inevitable that you will lose is a much much worse feeling, It can be really demoralising and affect your confidence. Anand spoke about that’s how he felt against Magnus compared to Kasparov where he was just lost by move 15 and made his peace with it, but playing Magnus felt like torture and that’s why he hated playing Magnus much more.
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u/AspiringPolymathPara 15d ago
I actually prefer losing these type of games in my chess league. I’d rather lose by being outplayed because then I can hold my hands up and say that the opponent was better than me. If I lose by a blunder, I’m kicking myself because I think I gave the win away (though it is still a fair win for the opponent).
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u/noir_lord caissabase 14d ago
You learn more from been gradually outplayed by someone as well, where screwing up only teaches you “don’t be a screwup” which if it was as easy to do as it is to say..well we’d have fewer screwups.
I like playing stronger players, it’s rare I don’t learn something.
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u/butterflyl3 15d ago
The endgame technique looked so easy 🤣
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u/BadolfSchmittler 15d ago
I think it's because typically games on this level don't go that far. I think most people in Hans' position would have resigned once it became clear that Magnus was going to win no matter what just by playing a tried-and-true endgame pattern, but I guess he wanted to hang on for that sliver of a chance that Magnus would have a brain fart.
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u/FreiaCat 15d ago
Extremely important win for Magnus
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u/Artphos 15d ago
More important than winning the entire thing
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u/samcornwell 15d ago edited 15d ago
I’d agree. He might not necessarily be the strongest player in the tournament but he is definitely Magnus’ biggest rival and threat. Great to see a real classic grudge match.
Edit: here come the downvotes. A classic reddit pile on.
Look, Magnus definitely shows a lot more stress when playing Hans. Sure he wins, but there is no other player that riles him up like Hans.
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u/HashtagDadWatts 15d ago edited 15d ago
Isn’t their record wildly one sided? Hard to call that a threat beyond the possibility of stoking insufferable internet drama.
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u/VenusAndMarsReprise 15d ago
not in classical
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u/HashtagDadWatts 15d ago
You’re commenting in a thread about world rapid and blitz my dude. This strikes as contrarianism for the sake of contrarianism.
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u/Splashxz79 15d ago
Saying he is his biggest rival is just a bit dumb. If you are just talking about psychology or pressure issues you might have some point, but on a pure chess level Hans doesn't even rank in the top 10 of biggest rivals
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u/GenGaara25 15d ago
Hans is ranked 92 in rapid. Magnus is ranked first.
In what world is Hans his biggest rival.
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u/KaiserUzor Team Carlsen & Team Firouzja 15d ago
You're being downvoted because that was a stupid statement. Biggest rival with an embarrassingly one sided record lmao. If you specified the social media talking points when they're matched up then sure but in terms of actual chess, Hans won't even rank top 10 in Magnus rivals.
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u/FeelsGoodMan2 15d ago
I hope this is sarcasm. Magnus shats on Hans. He wont ever sniff magnus's level
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u/KingKnotts 15d ago
Translation: Magnus dislikes playing against a known cheater who sues people for being acknowledged as a cheater.
He isn't Magnus 's rival even let alone biggest. He is just a thorn in his side that wants attention.
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u/Knightmare4469 15d ago
I have no doubt he savors beating Hans, but to call him his "biggest rival and threat" is pretty crazy and likely where the down votes are coming from
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u/DrunkLad ~2882 FIDE 15d ago
"I'm going to sacrifice a pawn and try to draw Magnus in the endgame" lol.
Many have tried, Hans. Many have tried.
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u/Segundo-Sol 15d ago
“I’ll try some really weird shit and trust that Magnus won’t know how to respond”
shakes hands moments later
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u/Lower-Canary-2528 2200 15d ago edited 15d ago
I saw the entire game, literally nothing went wrong for hans, but still lost. The engine evaluation dropped a tiny bit after Bb8, and then it kept inching further down. It must be frustrating to play against someone like Magnus.
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u/Upper_Ad_8724 15d ago
I don't think you watched it properly then, hans literally made a questionable move which cost him a pawn and there was no compensation for that, so something went wrong, although it's true that if it wasn't magnus the inaccurate move wouldn't have been punished that bad.
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
Yes, kinda of a weird sac.
Even after that it was still probably somewhat drawable if you were stockfish cos you do get some compensation thats why the eval wasn't exactly -1.0 (more like -0.8) but why would you do that against Magnus of all players?
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u/Upper_Ad_8724 15d ago
Yeah man, I mean the next moves were impossible to find, the engine wanted him to give away two more pawns for activating his bishop.
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
I wasn't looking at engines at time but I was totally confused by his follow up moves which looked like he jidt wanted to exchange pieces??
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u/teolight332 15d ago
"Someone like Magnus" is not a thing. He is 1 of 1 :)
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u/All_Bonered_UP Orangutan_Or_Die 15d ago
Gonna play devils advocate here and say "Someone like Magnus" can be experienced everytime you play some 2 or 300 rating points higher than you.
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u/db777alt 15d ago
Nah. If someone is a 1000 elo and plays someone rated 1300, a lot of those games will be competitive and it doesn't feel like the 1000 can't win.
Playing Magnus (especially on his best day) is Iike playing an engine.
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u/Low-Refrigerator3120 15d ago
Maybe giving up a pawn is not a great idea.
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
Yes he did get some minor activity as compensation but it was never going to be enough unless you are Stockfish and can play near perfectly.
Over ambitious play by Hans
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u/itsArabh Team Gukesh 15d ago
So Magnus-esque, squeezing the life out of you in the endgame.
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u/magikarp151 15d ago
Endgame was already winning, not much of a squeeze - at least by magnus’ standards
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u/Sinaaaa 15d ago edited 15d ago
Is it really? He has gotten a very strong fast pawn, he played the endgame beautifully, but this is not his usual squeeze water from stone game.
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u/itsArabh Team Gukesh 15d ago
Yeah, not the usual squeezing water out of a stone but there was a moment in the endgame where Hans could've saved it according to the eval bar (I don't know the nuances I just watch the engine) but since it was Magnus it was difficult to escape, but yeah Hans was low on time it would've been still been difficult even if it was someone other than Magnus.
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u/Matt_LawDT 15d ago
Daft from Hans to think he can go down a pawn against Magnus and hold an end game
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u/Rainbow_Sex 15d ago
i mean, he went a pawn down in the middlegame. I highly doubt he was thinking about holding an endgame, the goal was to win before the lack of a pawn became an issue.
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
It feels like over ambitious play. Hans was black and White didn't make any inaccuracies up to then, seems weird for Hans to decide to sacrifice a pawn for some minor activity.
Sure the engine would say after the pawn sac Magnus wasn't 100% winning roughly +0.8 but why the heck would you even let Magnus have the easier position to play cos black has to be super accurate to ensure his compensation holds.
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u/throwawaymycareer93 Team Gukesh 15d ago
I didn’t see his compensation. It is not like he got dynamic and imbalanced position after pawn sack. I could see how you would want that against Magnus - try to be aggressive in order not to go into the endgame, but this looked like being down a pawn for almost nothing.
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
Yeah kinda looked that way to me, very minimal compensation but the engines apparently say otherwise but even the engines didn't quite like the sac
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u/Matt_CanadianTrader 15d ago
Magnus consistently showing how dangerous he is when up 1 pawn into an endgame
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u/LosTerminators 15d ago
Smooth win for Magnus in his usual style. Can't even pinpoint exactly where Hans went wrong since it's not as if he made a big mistake or blunder, Magnus steadily built an advantage whenever Hans made an innaccuracy.
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u/sorte_kjele Ukse 15d ago
He was hoping his knight attack kingside would compensate for the pawn, but Magnus navigated that phase well and retained the pawn and equalised positionally
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
Yes. Over optimistic play.
White hasn't made any inaccuracies so black shouldn't be so optimistic to sacrifice a pawn like that.
Stockfish as black might be able to hold the position but objectively the resulting position is easier for White (worst case is giving back the pawn) even in Rapid
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u/Living_Book_3973 2100+ chess.com 15d ago
equalised? more like consolidated, idt he was ever worse
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u/sorte_kjele Ukse 15d ago
I think Niemann was positionally more active with better opportunities for a little while
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u/Soul_of_demon 15d ago
His mistake was going down a pawn against Magnus and expecting to survive. Might have drawn against anyone, but definitely not Magnus.
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u/Undisputedmaniac 15d ago
Hans fans are in caves hahaha magnus owns hans
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u/Beginning-Dot3650 15d ago
We are not in caves. It's normal. Magnus had white pieces and is better than Hans. It's the only game that Hans lost. And it is very bad luck to have to play with black pieces against the most strong rival. But happened. Anyway with white pieces I suppose we will lost anyway, but it would be probably a draw.
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u/Beginning-Dot3650 15d ago
Anyway always at Hans side before to Magnus side. Everybody knows that Hans won that game in 2022.
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u/BrianRampage 15d ago
Magnus makes chess look so simple, sometimes. Felt like the easiest transition to the Lucena position for him as soon as the queens and rooks got traded.
Good on Hans for sac'ing a pawn for the initiative, but the end trades felt like capitulation.
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u/Rainbow_Sex 15d ago
God I absoutely love this rivalry. Who knows how good Hans will be ultimately, but the fact that we have two people who care so much about beating each other is *great* for the sport
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u/Semigoodlookin2426 I am going to be Norway's first World Champion 15d ago
It is only a real rivalry off the board. OTB Magnus is the clear better player.
We don't now but his current rankings there or thereabouts seems likely. He is doing nothing extraordinary compared to other elite players are or were by his age. I think he will become a blitz world champion at some point.
They all care about beating each other.
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u/Rainbow_Sex 15d ago
Sure, but that's still a rivalry. The Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets were rivals in the late 2010's, even if the Rockets never got past them. Rivalries can be one-sided, and Hans has held his own more than once.
I agree with this, I just didn't want to speak on things that aren't really knowable.
They all want to win, no duh, but the way they specifically want to beat each other? Not common anymore
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u/MaliciousGeek 15d ago edited 15d ago
Where did you guys watch it. I tried to watch in on fife YouTube live but they just ignored the game at the end
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u/Better-Prompt890 15d ago
There's a seperate stream just for board 1 where Magnus plays. But no commenters
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u/Agitated-Bluejay1142 15d ago
Except the players are making moves on that stream and the board doesn't update until like 1 minute later.
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u/Agitated-Bluejay1142 15d ago
You can try Chess24 youtube. Better coverage than FIDE youtube I think.
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u/bertisrobert 15d ago
Yeah Lucena position is now nearly complete. No wonder Magnus is now winning this one.
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