If Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru Nakamura suffered from a coronary disease, they would have died today, in the grand finale of a fast-track online tournament for five months. The Norwegian has imposed himself (by drawing with the black pieces) in the sudden death of the 7th and last round against a very tough rival, the American Hikaru Nakamura, who knocked him down in the 1st (2.5-1.5), 3rd (3.5-2.5) and 5th (4-3). The Scandinavian, winner of the 2nd (3.5-2.5), 4th (2.5-1.5) and 6th (3-1), charges 140,000 dollars (117,331 euros) and reaffirms himself as one of the best chess players of all time. The American, his great rival in the fast modalities, takes 80,000 (67,046). The total prize pool for the series is one million dollars (843,623 euros).
“This outcome is nothing short of random, and I really don't know what to say right now. When I lost the first game of the blitzkrieg, I felt like a gnome, I didn't care anymore. I thought about playing the other game as it was, and that everything would finish. But then I have taken the energy from where it did not have it, and thus I have forced sudden death ”. Despite theoretically being in one of the happiest moments of his career, Carlsen was off. He added: "Nakamura has shown impressive resilience, and I have not been able to make the most of his weaknesses." And, suddenly, he saw the light that illuminated the key factor: "Since the second game today I am terribly tired, wanting everything to end".
It would be very interesting for Nakamura to explain the cause of what was clearly his big mistake today, as highlighted by the Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, one of the commentators of Chess24, the organizing portal of the circuit: start the initial game with e4, knowing that Carlsen would invite him to enter variants of the Spanish Opening that lead to a very positional game, where the Norwegian is nothing short of invincible. Although Nakamura has improved a lot in that area, his own experience should tell him that the best trick for him against Carlsen is to take the fight to the mud, to the tactical melee, to the melee.
The predictable happened. Nakamura had a good knight close to the rival monarch, but without support from other pieces to attack, and a solid center, for now. Carlsen had two long-term advantages when the position opened: a bishop and a more protected king than the American. The position was opened, that queen pressed the king diagonally and the bishop ate a pawn that ended up being decisive. Shortly before giving up, Nakamura made very pronounced gestures of being unsatisfied with himself. And he had powerful reasons.
From the prism of the world champion, what was presented as one of the most difficult days of his career could suddenly turn into a simple dressing task, thanks to that initial victory, relatively easy. With White in the second round, he no longer needed to tangle the board or risk the insistence of victory. So he also came out with e4, waiting for his opponent to try to start fires with the black pieces.
This time Nakamura dispensed with the usual Spanish Opening and opted for the Sicilian Defense, in search of war and double-edged positions. But Carlsen was not up for brawls and chose one of the more solid and less ambitious variants for White. After the 15th set, the American enjoyed an ideal situation not to lose: comfortable position and five minutes ahead of the clock. But he needed to win, and everything indicated that the Scandinavian had enough resources to tie, as in fact it happened. Actually, it was Nakamura who ended up struggling to draw.
And now he had to win with White, yes or yes, because doing it with Black in the fourth round would be even more difficult. Not even that need convinced him to choose a rare opening: Hispaniola repeated. Such a decision could only be justified if his coach had urgently prepared some very concrete idea. So it was: Nakamura again planted his horse against the King of Carlsen, but this time betting everything on that attack, which gave much more logic (and risk) to his choice.
Additionally, either out of a desire to succeed big or because he concluded it was his best option, Carlsen raised the counter as a defense, further raising the levels of complication and risk for both. It was a quagmire, with an important added nuance: When the board started to catch fire, Carlsen had seven minutes left on the clock. Right there, on move 21, the champion made a serious mistake. Nakamura did not take advantage of it in the first call, but he did in the second - after another imprecision by the Norwegian - and thus achieved an agonizing victory, which kept him very close to achieving the most important victory of his life.
Could the champion find the middle ground between risk and cold blood in the fourth round? The situation was, in a way, new for him, used to crushing in duels that he starts out winning. And it was also D-day, with no second chances.
What he decided was very sensible, and in keeping with the circumstances. He chose the English Opening (1 c4), and in his 16th set he proposed a change of queens that, except for catastrophe, left a limited scenario and with little risk: White victory or draw. But lo and behold, when Carlsen began his plan for a lengthy positional massage to exploit his slightest advantage, he made a mistake. Nakamura caught the failure immediately, acted accordingly, and there was no longer any advantage from anyone: an extra pawn for the American, but offset by a good set of pieces from the Scandinavian.
One issue remained to be resolved: whether Nakamura's improvement in handling quiet positions would be enough to hold out against a bloodthirsty champion. In faith that Carlsen tried all the ways to deceive his rival, but he remained very firm and started a gold tie, which took the fight to the modality where he shines the most (he is number one in the world): two lightning games , with an initial five minutes per side and an additional three seconds after each move.
Nakamura got it right again - he deviated on the sixth play of previous games - and to the adrenaline rush from reaching the tiebreaker he added an objective advantage on the board, because Carlsen, surprised, did not take the blow well. The American then generated the greatest of his feats throughout the circuit: to beat Carlsen without getting into the mud barely, in a position where the most important thing was impeccable technique.
But he still had an obstacle for heroes: not losing to one of the best chess players in history when he needs to win life or death. Carlsen repeated the English Opening, but did not gain an advantage, because Nakamura was seeded, and also was left with only one minute, by two of his fiery opponent. The champion kept pushing, and finally achieved a small advantage, and also the clocks were equalized. In one of the most tense moments of his life, Nakamura was not fine. The advantage grew very large, and this time Carlsen managed to get into machine mode to make precise plays with very few seconds available, until Nakamura gave up with a smile, because he could not believe what had just happened to him.
So four months of extremely tough competition were to end in sudden death (five minutes for White, forced to win, and four for Black, with no additional increments). Carlsen had the right to choose a color for having won the previous phase, and he preferred black, because things were not for more heroics. The challenge was thus even more herculean for those who aspired to overthrow the multi-champion.
Another Spanish, but this time with both monarchs castled on the opposite side to the usual. Considering the blazing speed, Carlsen's first thirty casts were close to perfect. However, he had half a minute less, and that could be decisive. In addition, the tables turned, and Nakamura achieved a clear advantage. But then, as if all the gods had unanimously decided to help the living deity of chess, Carlsen managed to mount a defensive fortress that allowed him to produce full-blast plays, with hardly any thought, allowing him to equalize time. And so he achieved the tables that were equivalent to one of the most suffered and exciting triumphs of his career.
Part of the money raised by Chess24 and by the players during the Magnus Carlsen circuit will be donated to Kiva, an organization that raises funds to finance microcredits to people or communities in need around the world. Everything indicates that this idea is very successful when chess has been the only sport that has not been paralyzed during the pandemic, but on the contrary, attracting people of very varied origin and profile through the Internet. Massively promoting a sport that teaches thinking, when it seems that those who run the world have stopped doing it correctly, cannot be bad.
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