Skilling Open

The Skilling Open was an online rapid chess tournament that took place from November 22 to November 30, 2020. It was the first tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2021, preceding the Airthings Masters. American Wesley So defeated the reigning World Chess Champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, on the latter's 30th birthday to secure the first prize of $30,000.

Coverage and Stakes

Coverage and stakes are in accordance with the general outline of the Champions Chess Tour 2021.

Participants

The participants were chosen based on invites given by the event organizers.

Nr.	Name	Classic ELO rating (November 2020)	Classic World Ranking (November 2020)
1	Magnus Carlsen	2862	1
2	Ding Liren	2791	3
3	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2784	4
4	Anish Giri	2764	11
5	Wesley So	2770	9
6	Vidit Gujrathi	2726	25
7	Peter Svidler	2723	26
8	Teimour Radjabov	2765	10
9	Hikaru Nakamura	2736	20
10	Lê Quang Liêm	2709	31
11	Sergey Karjakin	2752	17
12	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2743	19
13	Levon Aronian	2781	6
14	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2784	5
15	David Antón Guijarro	2675	62
16	Alireza Firouzja	2749	18

Format

The tournament began with a 3-day round-robin preliminary round from November 22 to November 24. Each player played one game against all the other players for 15 total matches. The top 8 point-getters from the preliminary round advance to the knockout rounds and are seeded based on points to determine the bracket. In the case of ties, they use the following tiebreakers:

1. Points won in games involving the tied players
2. Total number of victories
3. Sonneborn–Berger score
4. Koya Score

For each of the knockout rounds, each matchup plays 2 matches of 4 rapid games on back-to-back days. If either player does not lose either match, he advances to the next round. If each player wins one match, there is a tiebreaker on day 2 consisting of 2 blitz games. If the players split the 2 blitz games, they play an Armageddon match (White has 5 minutes, Black has 4 minutes, draw is a win for Black) to determine who advances. The higher seed in the matchup gets to pick the color for the first game, the color for the first blitz tiebreaker game, and the color for the Armageddon.

Results

Preliminary round

	Name	ELO	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points
01	Magnus Carlsen	2862	-	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	0	1	9
02	Hikaru Nakamura	2736	½	-	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	1	½	1	½	9
03	Wesley So	2770	½	½	-	½	1	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	8.5
04	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2784	1	0	½	-	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	8.5
05	Levon Aronian	2781	½	½	0	½	-	0	½	1	0	1	½	1	½	½	1	1	8.5
06	Teimour Radjabov	2765	0	½	½	0	1	-	1	½	1	½	0	½	0	½	1	1	8
07	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2784	½	½	½	½	½	0	-	½	½	1	½	½	1	0	½	1	8
08	Anish Giri	2764	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	-	0	1	½	1	½	½	1	½	8
09	Alireza Firouzja	2749	0	0	1	½	1	0	½	1	-	0	1	½	1	½	1	0	8
10	Lê Quang Liêm	2709	½	1	0	½	0	½	0	0	1	-	½	½	1	1	1	½	8
11	Ding Liren	2791	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	-	½	1	½	½	0	7.5
12	Vidit Gujrathi	2726	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	-	1	1	0	½	6.5
13	David Antón Guijarro	2675	0	0	½	1	½	1	0	½	0	0	0	0	-	1	1	1	6.5
14	Peter Svidler	2723	½	½	½	0	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	0	0	-	½	½	6
15	Sergey Karjakin	2752	1	0	½	½	0	0	½	0	0	0	½	1	0	½	-	1	5.5
16	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2743	0	½	0	½	0	0	0	½	1	½	1	½	0	½	0	-	4.5

Play-offs

Note: Scores are shown as matches won/drawn, where 1 point is award for a 4-game match won, and 0.5 for a 4-game match drawn.

	Quarterfinal (November 25-26)				Semifinal (November 27-28)				Final (November 29-30)
	Carlsen	1.5
	Giri	0.5
					Carlsen	1.5
					Nepomniachtchi	0.5
	Aronian	1
	Nepomniachtchi	2
									Carlsen	0.5
									So*	1.5
	So*	2
	Radjabov	1
					So	1.5
					Nakamura	0.5
	Vachier-Lagrave	1
	Nakamura*	2

*These players each prevailed in the Armageddon.

External links

• Official website of the Skilling Open
• Official website of the Champions Chess Tour 2021