Freestyle Chess Finals Day 1 Highlights: Hikaru blunder allows Carlsen to win Game 1; Arjun goes 1-0 up vs MVL

Turned out to be quite the pitched battle between the two finalists of the Weissenhaus leg and it’s Caruana – who had lost to the German Grandmaster in February – who goes 1-0 up in the third-place playoff with a victory in 66 moves! And he achieves the victory while playing with black pieces.

Here’s what the board looks like at the end of their match:

Both players have their Queen on the board along with a rook, with Fabi having the added advantage of a bishop. The latter, though, has a sizeable lead on the eval bar and gives Keymer a check with his Queen in the latest move.

This is the only game that is still ongoing, with all the other three games on Day 7 achieving a decisive result.

Hikaru’s decision to advance his light-squared bishop to a2 turns out to be a blunder. The American GM could have taken Carlsen’s e-file pawn via en passant and solidified his position against the white king while keeping Carlsen’s bishop and rook in check with his own bishop at e6.

Instead, he decides to advance his bishop forward, allowing Carlsen to give him a check by simply moving his bishop to f8, clearing the path between his rook and the black King.

Hikaru had been putting up a superb fight until then and was steering the game towards a draw, and in a single stroke, undid all of his hard work!

Here’s what the board looks like at the end of the game:

French GM MVL raises the white flag of surrender after finding his King cornered by the two black rooks placed along the second rank. Here’s what the board looks like at the end of the game:

Can Arjun Erigaisi collect a third win in four games and go 1-0 up in his fifth-place playoff against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave? Or will the French GM use the time advantage to try and eke out a draw and start on level terms in Game 2 on the final day?

We have the first result of Day 7 in Paris, with Russian GM Nepomniachtchi defeating Nodirbek in 44 moves while playing with black pieces, bossing the second half of the game aided by a couple of blunders by the Uzbekistani GM. And he wins this contest with nearly half-an-hour left on the clock.

Quite the response from Nepo after a stunning reversal against Arjun Erigaisi in his previous game, in which he had gone 1-0 up on Friday before suffering back-to-back losses on Saturday followed by a draw.

The eval bar currently reads 1.3 in favour of Carlsen with both players having a little over five minutes left on the clock. The world No 1 has his bishop and knight advancing menacingly towards the black King with his rook standing in the distance.

The eval bar is dead even after 20 moves in Game 1 of the third-place playoff between Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer, with both players having their Queen on the board.

This after Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek commits a blunder in his 39th move by bunching his rooks together (Raf6) right next to his opponent’s King. Nepo responds with a pawn capture (Qxd3) with his Queen.

The engine isn’t a fan of Arjun moving his knight to b4 and later capturing Maxime’s light-squared bishop with his Queen after it takes his corresponding piece.

Arjun later gets one of his knights knocked off the board after placing it between his opponent’s knight and rook on the back rank.

Magnus Carlsen had been the more composed of the two players facing off in the final of the Paris leg, but his heart-rate too has shot past 100 with less than 20 minutes left on the clock for both players.

Carlsen, though, still has a better position compared to Hikaru, according to the eval bar at the very least .

Arjun responds by moving his light-squared bishop to c8, threatening its white counterpart, forcing the French GM to retreat his Queen to h4 to protect his bishop.

Hikaru responds by retreating his bishop to e6, right next to his King. Carlsen uses the opportunity to move his g-file pawn forward.

Both players have roughly the same time left on the clock, with Carlsen slightly ahead on the eval bar. Draw on the cards?

Shortly after Magnus Carlsen gives Hikaru Nakamura a check with his knight in the ninth move, he loses a bishop while attempting to capture his opponent’s knight.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave decides to retreat his Queen to d2 from b4, which the Stockfish engine puts a big red cross on. This was after Erigaisi advanced his knight to d5 continue threatening the French GM’s most powerful piece.

Nodirbek and Nepo are moving along at a rapid pace at the moment, playing more than twice the number of moves played in Carlsen vs Nakamura and Caruana vs Keymer.

Nodirbek, however, has less than half-an-hour left on the clock, compared to nearly an hour for Nepo. Can the latter capitalise on that gap and go 1-0 up for the second time in as many matches?

Here’s what the board looks like at the end of 10 moves, during which both players castle and also lose a knight and a rook each:

And sure enough, MVL moves his Queen away (Qb4) to safety in his 13th move. Meanwhile the eval bar is leaning slightly (0.8) in favour of the Indian, who is also leading by nearly 20 minutes on the clock, at the moment:

Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are almost level on the clock , both having a little over 40 minutes left with the former taking his time for the last four moves. Here’s what the board looks like after 10 moves:

Here’s a look at the heart-rates of the players currently in action. Erigaisi has been the most composed of the players in action in the last couple of days and it is no different today, with the Indian GM the only one with a heart rate below 70.

And here’s what the accuracy of the players in action looks like. Notice how Erigaisi ranks among the best in this parameter as well.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave castles right after Arjun Erigaisi, and it’s not long before we see the first pieces taken off the board, with both players losing their dark-squared bishops along with a couple of pawns by the seventh move.

The French GM is currently on the offensive, advancing his Queen forward along with a rook and a knight.

It’s been a while since the penultimate day of the Paris leg got underway, and Hikaru Nakamura is yet to play his sixth move against Magnus Carlsen. The American GM has just 45 minutes left on the clock, 20 less than the world No 1, and the pressure is already starting to build right now.

As for the board, it looks like Carlsen as leaving the right side clear to advance his dark-squared bishop.

Nepo and Nodirbek lost to Erigaisi and MVL in the 5th-8th place classification games in the last two days, both contests going into the rapid tie-breaks, and they will be hoping to end their campaign on a winning note by finishing seventh.

Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek, a last-minute replacement for American GM Hans Niemann, is playing with white pieces.

The Indian Grandmaster is playing with black pieces in Game 1 of his fifth-place playoff against local favourite MVL. The two opt for a d4 d5 opening – unlike the rest of the boards that witness a c4 c5 opening.

The blockbuster final between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura begins with a c4 c5 opening, which is also the case in the third-place playoff between Weissenhaus finalists Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana in which the former is playing with white pieces.

Arjun Erigaisi is the only Indian in action on Day 7 of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Paris, facing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fifth-place playoff.

D Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi finished at the bottom of the table at the end of the round-robin stage and also lost their subsequent 9th-12th playoff games against Richard Rapport and R Praggnanandhaa respectively.

Praggnanandhaa would later defeat Rapport on Saturday to finish ninth out of 12 competitors.

Here’s the opening board position for the Carlsen vs Nakamura Game 1.

• Final: Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura
• 3rd-4th Playoff: Fabiano Caruana vs Vincent Keymer
• 5th-6th Playoff: Arjun Erigaisi vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
• 7th-8th Playoff: Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov