Lindores Abbey Chess: Magnus Carlsen suffers twin defeats

Rare twin-defeats for Magnus Carlsen marked an action filled day in the $150,000 Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge online chess tournament on Wednesday.

One among the four overnight leaders, Carlsen could score only 1.5 points from four rounds after losing to China’s Yu Yangyi and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Rare twin-defeats for Magnus Carlsen marked an action filled day in the $150,000 Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge online chess tournament on Wednesday.

One among the four overnight leaders, Carlsen could score only 1.5 points from four rounds after losing to China’s Yu Yangyi and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda. His lone victory came against Chinese rival Wei Yi.

READ: Magnus Carlsen, three others in the lead

With two other overnight leaders Hikaru Nakamura and Sergey Karjakin assured of semifinal-berths, Carlsen will have to perform better in the concluding phase of the league to reach the last-four stage.

Nakamura won against Aronian and drew the next three rounds while Karjakin drew three rounds before beating 16-year-old sensation Alireza Firouzja.

The results:

Eighth round: Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 5.5) drew with Yu Yangyi (Chn, 4); Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 3) lost to Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 5,5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4.5) drew with Wesley So (USA, 4.5); Levon Aronian (4) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 3.5); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 4) lost to Daniil Dubov (Rus, 3.5); Ding Liren (Chn, 4) bt Wei Yi (Chn, 2).

Seventh round: Nakamura drew with Grischuk; Yangyi bt Liren; Wei drew with Aronian; Duda bt Carlsen; So drew with Firouzja; Karjakin drew with Dubov.

Sixth round: Liren drew with Nakamura; Grischuk drew with Karjakin; Dubov bt So; Carlsen bt Wei; Firouzja bt Duda; Aronian bt Yangyi.

Fifth round: Liren lost to Grischuk; Nakamura bt Aronian; Yangyi bt Carlsen; Wei drew with Firouzja; Duda bt Dubov; So drew with Karjakin.