The Casablanca Chess featured grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Amin Bassem competing in the new “Chess variant,” a format designed to honor the history of chess.
Magnus Carlsen won the inaugural Casablance Chess that took place over the weekend of May 18-19, 2024. World No. 1, Carlsen, finished the four-player event with 4.5 points from six rounds.
Hikaru Nakamura of the United States finished runner-up with 3.5 points at the Casablanca Chess. Five-time world champion, Vishanathan Anand scored three points to finish third. Bassem Amin of Egypt finished last with one point.
The Casablance Chess Tournament is the first-of-its-kind in which the players were required to make moves from certain positions onwards from well-known games from the past. The historical games were chosen by Grandmasters Hicham Hamdouchi and Laurent Fressinet.
The final day featured games from the World Championship matches between Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe (1935), Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov (1987) and Anna Ushenina and Hou Yifan (2013).
On the second day, Magnus Carlsen, leading with 2.5 points out of 3, won another game and drew two for a final score of 4.5 out of 6.
Carlsen said, “It was a fun format for sure, I would definitely like to try it again. With one exception in game two, all the positions were very rich with lots of play. It doesn’t really matter if you are playing White or Black, because you know that the position is equal and there are chances for both sides. It is also a lot of fun to end up in positions that I don’t play too often. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Carlsen, the winner, was bestowed with a sophisticated trophy shaped like a knight. Nakamura, Anand, and Amin each received traditional cups.
Tarik Senhaji, the CEO of the Casablanca Stock Exchange presented the trophy to Magnus Carlsen in the presence of Dana Reizniece-Ozola (Deputy Chair of FIDE Management Board), Bouchra Kadiri (President of the Provisional Committee in charge of the Moroccan Royal Chess Federation), and the “board masters” Hicham Hamdouchi and Laurent Fressinet.
