Magnus Carlsen headed the field at the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, a quadrangular rapid tournament held at the St Louis Chess Club last month. The Norwegian, who became a father in September, always seems motivated playing at fast time limits and his opposition in St Louis was of the highest calibre – Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh Dommaraju.
At the Norway Chess tournament in June, Gukesh, the 19-year-old reigning world champion, caused Carlsen to bang the table in frustration after turning around a hopeless position. But in St Louis, Gukesh salvaged just one draw from six games against Carlsen. Combined with 3.5-2.5 scorelines against Caruana and Nakamura, that added up to a convincing tournament victory for Carlsen, who reflected: ‘It is really satisfying to be able to show that, when I’m playing well, I’m still quite a bit better than the others.’
In the first game of the event, Gukesh passed up an amusing opportunity to stymie Carlsen one more time. With just 14 seconds remaining, his decision to challenge Carlsen’s rook on the first rank was entirely natural, but a fatal mistake. A better defence was 34 Qd3-e2, preparing Rd2-a2.
Gukesh Dommaraju-Magnus Carlsen
Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, 2025
34 Rd1? An unfortunate square for the rook, as now 34…Nh4!, threatening Qh3-g2 mate, wins the game. If 35 gxh4 Qg4+ and Qg4xd1 wins, or 35 Ne3 Nf3 mate. Nf4? This looks no less crushing than 34…Nh4, and Gukesh resigned before his final seconds ticked away. But there was an extraordinary saving resource in 35 Ne3!! which prevents mate on g2. After 35…Nxd3 36 Rxa1 Qc8 37 a7 Qa8 38 Nxd5! Black is the one who must be careful, though 38…Ne1! is a clever riposte. 39 Rxe1 Qxa7 40 Rd1 with a draw likely to follow.
By the final day Carlsen seemed to have hit his stride, starting off with the velvety win below. His intuition for rich strategical middlegames, such as those arising from the Ruy Lopez opening in the game below, is unmatched.
Gukesh Dommaraju-Magnus Carlsen
Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, 2025
21… Ba6! By delaying the exchange of pawns with c6xd5, Carlsen ensures that the Bd3 remains passive and the c4 pawn is a target. 22 h3 Rb8 23 Qe2 Nc5 24 Bxc5 dxc5 25 Qc2 Rb4 26 Bf1 g6 27 Red1 Qc7 28 Rd2 cxd5 29 cxd5 c4! This passed pawn turns out to be far more potent than the one on d5. 30 Qc1 Rc8 31 Rc2 Bg7 32 h4 h5 33 Ra3 Ng4 34 Rac3 Qb6! Targeting the f2-pawn means that the c4 pawn cannot be captured. 35 Qd2 Bh6 36 Qe2 Bf4 37 Nh1 Rb3 38 g3 Bh6 39 Bh3 Qb4 White resigns as 40 Rxb3 cxb3 41 Rxc8+ Bxc8 42 Qb2 Qxa4 wins easily.
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