The Grand Final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour is providing plenty of excitement.
Hikaru Nakamura, after finishing his semi-final match with Daniil Dubov early, had an extra day of rest before the final began.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen eventually managed to overcome Ding Liren in the other semi-final but the path to victory wasn’t exactly smooth.
Set One
The question is: does a rest day help or does one lose momentum?
Nakamura certainly seemed very fresh in the first of the match sets. Four full-blooded games saw Nakamura settle the set without needing any extra games. One win and three draws saw him finish the first day with an early advantage.
Set Two
The second set started with another win for Nakamura – with the black pieces too, just as it had been in the first set.
With hindsight, the plan for the second game of the set was faulty. Nakamura, with White, chose not to try and push for an advantage and the game ended in a draw by repetition after just 15 moves.
Carlsen ground out a win in the third game to level the scores.
Game four was a disappointment. We had grown used to both players steering full steam ahead into precarious territory but instead of a decisive game we saw another very early draw. Remarkably, the moves were exactly the same as those in game two.
True – the Berlin Defense to the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e4 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6) is still a difficult one to handle, but allowing the opponent to draw so easily as Black is a mistake. The lessons of Garry Kasparov losing his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2000 should not be forgotten.
Extra games were required. The first Blitz game ended in another draw, but it was a fighting game. The second one was won by Carlsen after Nakamura allowed an elementary tactic.
Set Three
The third set had curious echoes of the second.
Carlsen won the first game and then rather wasted the white pieces with another draw by repetition – but this time the game made it to move 17.
Nakamura won the third game and another draw sent the match into the Blitz games again.
First blood went to Nakamura – leaving Carlsen having to win ‘to order’ in the second Blitz game. Unfortunately for him, Nakamura defended in admirable fashion and held on for a match-winning draw.
Set Four
There were no short draws in the fourth set. It was back to all-action chess, with attacking skill met by defensive grit every step of the way.
Only the third game was decisive. It went in favour of Carlsen, which enabled him to level up the match score once more.
Three Sets Left
In my earlier post, I wrote:
‘Carlsen starts as favourite, of course. Yet if Nakamura can get his foot in the door with victories in a couple of the early sets then anything can happen.’
The foot is definitely in the door, but can Nakamura force it fully open?
Head to chess24 for all of the big game action as we head towards the conclusion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
