The 1st event on the $2 Million 2023 Champions Chess Tour – Aithings Masters, takes place from 6-10 February. The event is played in 3 Divisions of 8, 16 and 32 players with each division featuring a double-elimination knockout. Losers drop down to a losers bracket and can still win the tournament. The Grand Final will see the clash between the Winners of the Winners and Losers brackets. The total prize fund of the event is $235.000. ( Read more: Airthings Masters Play-In determines the field for the main event )
The Winners Finals were played between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. After four draws, Carlsen managed to take the match victory in the Armageddon tiebreaker, holding with Black pieces. Carlsen now awaits the Grand finale where he’ll meet the winner of the losers bracket. In the post-match interview, he said that the match was of a really poor quality and that he hopes for a rematch with Nakamura.
In the Losers Bracket, Wesley So eliminated Alexey Sarana, and Arjun Erigaisi defeated his compatriot Gukesh D. So and Erigaisi will face off in the Losers Bracket Semifinals for the tiebreaker—and Nakamura will play against the winner in the Final seeking for the second match against Magnus.
