World Fischer Random Championship

[Chessqueen]

So Wesley So becomes the World champion by an incredible score of 13.5 to 2.5 over Magnus Carlsen..

That is incredible !

I do NOT see anything incredible about that, it could be that Carlsen knows the openings and most variations up to the middle games deep deep enough better than any other top player, but when you disarm him of his GREAT opening knowledge he got what he got 13.5 to 2.5.

PS: GM Wesley So is so polite that on his interview he made Carlsen feel better about himself by saying if this was Normal standard chess Carlsen would had destroy me, but the fact is that in this category of Fischer Random Chess GM So is a better player plus the fact that GM Wesley play thousands of games on Chess.com and that is where he got such intensive FRC Opening awareness and know how to properly open a FRC Game. In reality GM Wesley did not had to make Carlsen feel better he should had say in this type of Chess variant I am the best player, but Carlsen has the potential to beat me with more practices. Simply check GM Wesley Chess.com account and see for yourself how many FRC games he played on the past

Poor Carlsen there is rumors that Carlsen locked himself for a few days after he lost to GM Wesley SO in FRC and that he is training intensely with Stockfish to become better at FRC. I believe it was a shock and an embarrassment for him to lose against GM Wesley SO in FRC in front of Millions following him in National TV in his own country.

[Nordlandia]

I rarely see GMs play Chess960 on lichess TV broadcast (featured games).

[EroSennin]

Sure, the trick is that you don't need to find a good rare alternative, you can find a good common alternative, and then deviate with a good rare one later on. Here's the lines (exclamation marks denote the moves to play to get into the rare positions, not that these moves are best.)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5! 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 exd4! (rare)

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2 Qb6! (rare)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 c5! 8. dxc5 Bxc5! 9. Nc3 Qe7 10. Bg5 Nbd7! (rare)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Nxc4 Qe7! (rare)

After a quick look 8...Qb6 in the French line seems quite a bit worse than the mainline. Often just loses a tempo with Qa5 after. Hard to believe Wesley So could actually be succesful with that move.

[Ovyron]

Hard to believe So would have the performance he got against Carlsen in FRC, but it happened.

[EroSennin]

Hard to believe So would have the performance he got against Carlsen in FRC, but it happened.

It was just a few rapid games. Also they reversed colors.

[lkaufman]

Hard to believe So would have the performance he got against Carlsen in FRC, but it happened.

It was just a few rapid games. Also they reversed colors.

What do you mean by "also they reversed colors". Not reversing colors would have made the result more random; reversing colors makes So's huge score all the more impressive, as it cannot be attributed to getting favorable start positions.

[Ovyron]

And, anyway, speaking about 8...Qb6 in the French, if So were to seriously try this, I think the French would be a poor choice.

[EroSennin]

Hard to believe So would have the performance he got against Carlsen in FRC, but it happened.

It was just a few rapid games. Also they reversed colors.

What do you mean by "also they reversed colors". Not reversing colors would have made the result more random; reversing colors makes So's huge score all the more impressive, as it cannot be attributed to getting favorable start positions.

True, but the second point was just to show Wesley wasn't disadvantaged from the beginning. He would be if he played 8...Qb6 in that French line.

[EroSennin]

And, anyway, speaking about 8...Qb6 in the French, if So were to seriously try this, I think the French would be a poor choice.

Of course you have more alternative options with better openings. But I doubt it would help that much to play a new move in the Berlin. It's all very bland.