Carlsen Comes Up Clutch at Champions Showdown in St. Louis

The month-long festivities continued at the newly renovated Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC) from October 27 through 29 for the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, featuring reigning U.S. Champion GM Fabiano Caruana, World Number Two GM Hikaru Nakamura, former World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, and reigning World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju.

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The Champions (All photos courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Much like GM Garry Kasparov at the Clutch Chess: Legends before the U.S. Championships, Carlsen left no doubt about who was in the best form, clinching his tournament victory with two games remaining.

The innovative format featured three days each consisting of Double Round Robin tournaments, with the games each day played at the “fast rapid” time control of ten-minutes per side with a five-second increment from move one. So far so good: eighteen rounds of chess. But the scoring is where things get tricky.

On day one, the scoring is “normal” with players earning a point per win (and a $1,000 bonus) and a half-point per loss. But, on day two, the points (and bonuses) double, and, on day three, wins are worth three points (and $3,000) but draws still only worth one point. This is the “clutch” part of Clutch Chess: By rewarding wins in later rounds more than earlier ones, the format facilitates comebacks on the final day and encourages risks and experimentation in earlier rounds.

After one day, Gukesh led all players with a 4/6 score, a half-point ahead of Carlsen. After losing the mini-match ½–1½ to Carlsen, Gukesh defeated Nakamura 1½–½ and a struggling Caruana 2–0.

Carlsen also defeated Caruana, 1½–½, but lost by the same score to Nakamura, who was third with a 3/6 score.

Caruana and Nakamura split their match, leaving Caruana trailing with 1½/6. If Caruana finishes atop the standings, or close to it, it will be a victory for the format.

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All graphics courtesy SLCC

The shake-up began during the second day’s first match, with Carlsen defeating Gukesh in both games, winning the match 4–0, while Caruana and Nakamura split their match 2–2 with one win apiece.

But just when Carlsen appeared to be running away with the lead, Caruana won both games in their Round 5 match, while Gukesh and Nakamura split their match with a pair of draws.

Caruana then defeated Gukesh 3–1 in Round 6, but Carlsen got back to his winning ways with a 4–0 win over Nakamura. When the dust settled, Carlsen entered the final day with 11½/18, a point ahead of Caruana. Nakamura and Gukesh trailed with 7/18 each.

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On Wednesday, Carlsen rose to the occasion, demonstrating the importance of peaking at the right time. After continuing his demolition of Gukesh with another two wins, Carlsen took down his closest competitor, Caruana, 6–0 before drawing both games with Nakamura to end up with 25½ points. The four wins added another $12,000 to Carlsen’s bounty, putting his final total for the win at $170,000.

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Caruana finished second with 16½ points, earning one win against Nakamura to add to his total. Nakamura finished third with 14 points, pulling away from Gukesh with a 4–1 win thanks to a game where Gukesh had serious winning chances early on. After failing to handle the time pressure, Gukesh finished last with 10 points.

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Next up for Gukesh is the 2025 FIDE World Cup, where the reigning World Champion will take the top overall seed. Games begin in Goa, India on Saturday, Nov. 1, but Gukesh will not compete until Tuesday, Nov. 4, when he faces the winner of GM Kazybek Nogerbek – GM Raja Rithvik R.

None of Gukesh's Champions Showdown colleagues will be joining him, unfortunately, with Carlsen opting out of the World Championship cycle, Caruana having already qualified for the next Candidates Tournament, and Nakamura banking on the FIDE ratings spot as his path to qualification.