Magnus Carlsen Wins Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown

Greetings to all chess fans and Midnight owls! It's around midnight in our country (UTC+08:00). Magnus Carlsen added another feather in his cap, winning the 2025 Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown. It's an 18-game rapid double round-robin format with a time control of 10 minutes plus a 5-second increment. It features an increasing point value and cash bonuses each day: Wins are worth 1 point on day 1 and $1,000, 2 points and $2,000on day 2, and 3 points and $3,000 on day 3. The total prize fund is $412,000 including bonuses for wins and a champion's jackpot. The tournament featured the top four best chess players in the world: World #1 Carlsen, #2 Hikaru Nakamura, #3 Fabiano Caruana and World Champion Gukesh.

Carlsen had a total score of 25.5 points pocketing the top prize of $170,000. The last place, Gukesh didn't do too bad, bringing home a prize of $63,000.

Day 1

Gukesh led the tournament on day one. He lost two games to Carlsen but came back strong. His wins against Caruana and Nakamura were beautiful and reminded me of Tal's style.

With 8 seconds on his clock, Gukesh finds the killer move Bf6, forcing a mate in 6. The sequence was 33. Bf6 Bxf6 34. Qxf4 Bg5 35. Rxg5 Qd8 36. Rg8+ Rxg8 37. Qh6#

Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/2025-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/round-3--game-2/JZueMckM/e4TO7tA3

Day 2

Carlsen recovered on day 2 and took the lead although he lost two games to Fabiano Caruana. Against Gukesh, Caruana got his revenge and played a brilliant move Rxg2. At the end of the exchanges, Black will lose a piece but his a pawn will be unstoppable.

Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/2025-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/round-6--game-1/6cq405MP/REimqsuf

Day 3

Carlsen was in top form on day 3, winning the tournament with two rounds to go. He beat Gukesh twice and got back at Caruana from his losses in round 2 by beating him two times. He then drew his games against Nakamura and earned another $50,000 bonus for a total of $170,000 in three days. Caruana finished second, Nakamura third, and Gukesh fourth.

Replay all the games: https://lichess.org/broadcast/2025-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/round-1--game-1/XIGl2cqg#boards

Credits

Pictures were from https://saintlouischessclub.org/event/2025-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/