It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a World Championship match which starts with a run of draws will see that run broken by a win from the challenger.

In his 1995 match against Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand scored the first win in game 9, in 2016 Sergey Karjakin broke through against Magnus Carlsen in game 8, and Boris Gelfand followed six draws against World Champion Anand with a game 7 win in 2012. (Did I mention that after these deadlock-breaking wins, the challengers did not win another game and all lost their matches?)

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This Saturday 17th November, the Lichess4545 league is organising a 15+15 tournament for its 3rd year.

The league is for people who want to play slow chess, improve, and meet other chess players but with the convenience of the internet. Starting as little more than a few dedicated enthusiasts and a Google spreadsheet, we now have over 300 actively playing members and many more who remain part of the community. Along the way the league has formed its own website with its own TV page of league games, developed its own league bot @chesster, started a league newsletter Lichess4545 Ledger, created several ancillary leagues, compiled end of season awards and funded and highlighted games for end-of season video reviews with several prominent youtubers and streamers. Thanks to the hard work of several developers and volunteers as well as the enthusiastic players who actively participate in all aspects of the community, we have been able to continually improve and develop a place for fun, comradery and serious study of chess.

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The action began early on Tuesday, so early that it preceded the start of Game 4.

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Surfing on the World Chess Championship happening in London from 9th to 28th November, Lichess is organising a community meetup in London on Saturday 24th November, come see us!

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The position on the board after 10 moves in game 3 of the World Championship match between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen will look very familiar. It’s a very similar Rossolimo setup to the one that Caruana used in game 1, which was generally agreed to not be a success for Caruana.

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The most dramatic moment in Saturday’s game 2 came at move 10 when Fabiano Caruana played Rd8. Afterwards, World Champion Magnus Carlsen was noticeably uncomfortable at the board. This was not because his position was objectively in any trouble, but because he realized that this was the sort of move that Caruana would have meticulously prepared beforehand with the help of a team of strong computers and GMs. Meanwhile, Magnus had to find moves on his own with the clock ticking.

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Photo: World Chess

Fabiano Caruana was in serious trouble in game 1 of his World Championship match vs Magnus Carlsen. However, Magnus couldn’t find the most accurate way to snuff out resistance and by the time both players were given an extra 50 minutes to think on move 40 most of his advantage had been frittered away. Of course, Magnus is not one to give up easily and poor Fabiano was made to suffer the maximum for his half point. After 6 hours and 115 moves the two players finally agreed to a draw.

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Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen (DrDrunkenstein) won the Lichess Titled Arena 8 on Friday by an impressive (and fancy) margin of 26 points. It was potentially his last formal chess competition before beginning a World Championship match on November 9th. Finishing second was GM Andrew Tang (Penguingim1), a Titled Arena regular. Third was IM Vincent Rothuis (opperwezen), who always seems to finish towards the top of these events. Fourth and Fifth place were taken by GM Alireza Firouzja (alireza2003) and GM Sergei Zhigalko (Zhigalko_Sergei). In total, 227 players took part.

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Early last September, IM Minh Le (mutdpro) won the 7th Lichess Titled Arena, can he defend his new crown this month? The next Titled Arena will take place on October 26th. The prize fund this month is $1125, since Magnus gave his 3rd prize back.

As is now tradition, the tournament will be preceded by a Warm Up Arena, open to all players on Lichess (with a minimum of 20 rated bullet games).

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Vietnamese IM Minh Le (mutdpro) defeated a very strong field of 226 players to win the Lichess Titled Arena 7. Le opened up a lead of 10 points by the end of the tourney but the fighting for the final spots was fierce up until the final moments. Finishing second was Armenian GM Zaven Andriasian (Zaven_ChessMood) who had a very strong showing in his first Titled Arena. Finishing third was former Titled Arena Champion and current World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, (ManWithAVan) who was running late and played the tournament from his phone .

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