Lindores Abbey Chess: Magnus Carlsen enters knockouts

Carlsen carves out a 50-move win over Alireza Firouzja with black pieces in the 11th round.

File Photo: Magnus Carlsen bounced back with a win after losing to Daniil Dubov in the penultimate round.

Facing a must-win situation, world champion Magnus Carlsen produced a final-round victory over Alireza Firouzja to enter the knockout phase of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge chess tournament on Thursday.

After losing the penultimate league round to Daniil Dubov, Carlsen was in danger of losing out on a knockout spot. But the Norwegian favourite carved out a 50-move win with black pieces.

• 11th round: A. Firouzja (FIDE, 4.5) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6); Wesley So (USA, 6) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 7.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 2.5) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 5.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 7) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 6); Daniil Dubov (Rus, 5.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 5.5); Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 4) drew with Yu Yangyi (Chn, 6).
• 10th round: Carlsen lost to Dubov; Nakamura bt Duda; Aronian drew with Karjakin; Yangyi bt Wei; Grischuk lost to Firouzja; Liren drew with So.
• Ninth-round: Wie drew with Nakamura; Karjakin drew with Carlsen; Yangyi drew with Grischuk; Duda lost to Liren; So drew with Aronian; Dubov drew with Firouzja.