Magnus Carlsen won Banter Series after starting 1.f3, 2.Kf2

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen won after starting 1.f3, 2.Kf2 – the notoriously bad “Bongcloud” opening – on his way to beating Wesley So 5.5:3.5 to claim the $12,000 top prize in the chess24 Banter Series. Wesley struggled to get over losing that game and was still lamenting “that’s just so humiliating” two games later. He struck some blows of his own, though, and pushed Magnus all the way until a relieved World Champion summed up, “what a battle!” at the end.
And of course don’t miss the final from the point of view of both of the players. Here’s Magnus:

Magnus faces Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Alireza Firouzja and Aryan Tari in a double round-robin, with Vladimir Kramnik and Judit Polgar commentating on the official chess24 stream!

See also:

• chess24 Banter Series hompage
• All the chess24 Banter Series games with computer analysis
• Carlsen and co. in Banter Series Finals action
• Carlsen vs. Giri in the Banter Series Quarterfinals
• Carlsen-Aronian and So-Le in the semi-finals
• It’s Carlsen-So in the Banter Series Final