Chess: world No 1 Carlsen, a queen ahead, loses on time in Global League 

The $1mn Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, which has brought world No 1 Magnus Carlsen and many other top grandmasters to London this week, reaches its final on Saturday. The franchise-based six-team league has already sparked controversy.

Its 20 minutes per player format, plus the lack of the normal two seconds per move increment, have led to some bizarre time scrambles in the final stages, with the arbiters conspicuously absent. A spectating grandmaster described it as like “soccer without yellow and red cards”. The absence of increment may relate to precise schedules for television coverage, which the event has agreed in many countries, though not in the UK.

Carlsen was beaten by Alireza Firouzja, the rising Iran-born Frenchman, despite controlling the game most of the way. At the end, the Norwegian lost on time despite being a queen ahead, due to a clause in the rules which states that a time forfeit wins as long as it is legally possible to construct a mating position. The final stages were caught on camera. Some have called it “dirty flagging”. There have been claims that Firouzja was moving in Carlsen’s time, but judge for yourself.

Five years earlier, in the 2019 World Blitz Championship, the roles were reversed when Firouzja, then 16, was three pawns up against Carlsen, but flagged and lost.

Carlsen was enthusiastic about the league in a pre-event interview, when he said: “The approach of GCL’s Sameer Pathak to bring in team owners and a professional setting is something I definitely want to be a part of.”  The event was sold out at the weekend, but £15 spectator tickets are still bookable online all this week. Daily live coverage of the games is available at kick.com/globalchessleague. Play starts at 1pm BST.

After five of the 10 rounds were completed on Sunday, PBG Alaskan Knights had won all their matches, losing only a single game out of 30, and are poised to reach the final on Saturday. It was an impressive team performance, since their Netherlands top board Anish Giri was the weakest No 1 and only scored four draws and a defeat. At this stage Firouzja had the best top board score with 4.5/5, while Carlsen, not yet fully recovered from his early loss, had a bare 50 per cent.

Puzzle 2593

White to move and win: an endgame classic by Vasily and Mikhail Platov (1912).

Click here for solution