Magnus Carlsen set a world record of 111 unbeaten classical games after getting out of trouble against local Jorden van Foreest during their 45-move draw in the fourth round of Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here on Tuesday.
On a day when Viswanathan Anand drew with black pieces against China's Yu Yangyi in 32 moves to reach 1.5 points, Carlsen’s record remained the talking point.
Carlsen, who last lost a game in July 2018 to Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, broke the record of 110 games set by Russia’s Sergei Tiviakov in 2005.
Indeed, Carlsen’s performance came against a much higher quality of opposition that averaged over 2700 as compared to Tiviakov’s rivals, at 2476.
The record could have been Carlsen’s two games before but he declined to include two victories he posted in the recent Norwegian league by saying, “I’m all for it (the record), too. I consider my streak against elite opposition is 109 and against good opposition is 111 and I am happy about that.”
But after escaping some trouble against van Foreest and then drawing the game, Carlsen well and truly held another world record in his glittering career.
After four rounds, before Wednesday’s rest day, Wesley So led the field after beating overnight leader Alireza Firouzja in 47 moves.
In Group B, Surya Shekhar Ganguly defeated Dinara Saduakassova in 26 moves to lead with three points. Compatriot Nihal Sarin (2.5 points), who also played black, recorded his first win after facing local Dutchman Max Warmerdam for 38 moves and shared the second spot with four others.
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