Hikaru Nakamura headed match 1 of his successful confrontation with Magnus Carlsen to a draw when his decision to advance his bishop during the 35th decision turned out to be fatal, allowing the world n ° 1 to seize the advance.
Learn more
Magnus Carlsen capitalized on an error by Hikaru Nakamura to seize the head in the final of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Paris on Saturday while Arigaisi won his third victory in four inch games closer to fifth place. The penultimate day of the Parisian leg of the first Grand Chelem tour was witness to the four games ending on a decisive note, with Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi also winning their matches in addition to Carlsen and Erigaisi.
In the dreamer’s strength test between two of the best players in the world, Nakamura rippled impressively in the middle of the match while playing with black pieces and managed each curve that the world n ° 1 sent its way. However, Nakamura made an error in what would prove to be his last movement of the evening, canceling all his hard work in the process.
How Nakamura served Carlsen a victory on a set
The American GM left his king unattended by advancing his bishop (BA2), towards the second row, where he had also positioned a tower in order to keep the king of Carlsen in check. The Norwegian managing director immediately responded by moving his own bishop (BF8 +) to give Nakamura a check with his tower.
Nakamura Expressed changed in a few seconds after the move while he was making his mistake, and was left in ash by shaking the hand of Carlsen, realizing that there was little hope for him to struggle in safe this position.
Wowwww Hikaru Blunders against Magnus #Freestylechess https://t.co/3s2w9rgw9f pic.twitter.com/cwnkqoxwb8
– Chess.com (@Chesscom) April 13, 2025
Arjun, who had lost against Nakamura in the quarter-final, continued his solid race after beating Nepomniachtchi in their 5th place classification match. The world No. 4, playing with black pieces, directed the second half of match 1 against Vachier-Lagrave and finally beat the French Grand Master in 41 movements.
And in third place in the playoff series, had a revenge match between Caruana and Vincent Keymer – Weissenhaus leg finalists of the Grand Colam tour in which the latter was crowned champion.
In what was the longest match of the evening, Keymer fought hard while playing with white pieces but could not prevent the American GM from closing on his king with his queen and a tower, finally accepting defeat in 66 movements.
