Dear chessfans,
Magnus Carlson clearly does not like classical chess too much these days, he will also skip the TATA Steel Masters 2025 (which starts this weekend), one of the most prestigious tournaments.
His last classical game was back in Sep. 2024 at the Olympiad in Budapest.
But last weekend he had played in the German Bundesliga for the first time for FC St. Pauli (a soccer club in Hamburg with a side branch of chess players). The Co-Founder of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, German entrepeneur Jan-Henric Büttner had "convinced" him to do so.
His first game was a nice win against Max Warmerdam, the No. 3 from Netherlands:
In this position Max should have made arrangements to grab the gambited e-pawn, but he failed and Magnus could keep that e-pawn which turned out to be a deadly thorn in White´s position.
https://lichess.org/broadcast/german-bundesliga-202425/round-5/m8vOgIzy/Cg6aiNBp
In his second game on the next day he was paired against the current No. 1 from China, Wei Yi. A tough nut to crack. The game was on a high level (both players had 99% accuracy (on lichess)) and it ended in a draw:
https://lichess.org/broadcast/german-bundesliga-202425/round-6/NffwRqNc/uAxnCkVp