Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the 23-year-old who last year ended the world champion’s 125-game unbeaten sequence, went on to win Thursday’s final against Russia’s Sergey Karjakin
Magnus Carlsen has never won the biennial
World Cup knockout, and the No 1 was eliminated in Tuesday’s semi-finals of its $190,000 2021 renewal in Sochi. Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 23, again proved himself a nemesis on big occasions for Norway’s world champion, and went on to win the tournament.
Last autumn, Duda ended Carlsen’s record 125-game unbeaten run and was congratulated by his namesake Andrzej Duda, president of Poland. This week, the chess-playing Duda did still better as he defeated Sergey Karjakin, the 2016 title challenger, in the World Cup final. Their first game was a speedy draw, but in the second Duda was well prepared against a fashionable counter to the Queen’s Gambit. Karjakin never got in the game and resigned just a pawn down but with a poor position.