Freestyle Chess Finals Day 2 Highlights: Carlsen crowned champion after beating Hikaru; Arjun finishes fifth

Here’s a look at the final results and standings in the Paris leg of the Tour with all the matches on the final day coming to an end:

It was a disappointing tournament for D Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi, who finish at the bottom of the standings, as well as for R Praggnanandhaa – who settles for the ninth spot.

Arjun Erigaisi, however, kept the Indian flag flying high till the final day as he finished at the fifth spot, defeating eventual champion Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in the round-robin stage as well as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave later in the playoffs to finish fifth. And he sure has shown the most potential among the Indians when it comes to the unpredictable format that is Freestyle Chess.

After defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Sunday, Arjun holds the French GM to a 58-move draw in Game 2 to win the playoff 1.5-0.5! With that we have officially come to an end in the second event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour!

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

Both players have minutes left on the clock, and while Arjun has a bishop on the board, MVL is left with a knight. The two also have a couple of pawns each. Highly unlikely to achieve a decisive result in such a scenario.

“I felt that I was pushing the whole way yesterday, and had no problems whatsoever today. So it didn’t feel that even to be honest in this particular match up. I felt that overall he had some chances to hold, but overall I managed to shut him out in this match.

“Overall, Hikaru’s done really well in the Classical games, both in Weissenhaus and here. He’s definitely been among the best. But I think there is also something psychological that happens, that he feels that when he plays me, maybe he’s not pushing as hard as he is against some other people,” Carlsen says after defeating Hikaru in the final of the Freestyle Chess event in Paris.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov fought hard till the end, taking Game 2 of his seventh-place playoff against Nepomniachtchi to the 70th move. The Russian GM, though, proved too strong for him with a massive time advantage, forcing the Uzbekistani GM to finally crack under pressure.

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

Game 2 of the fifth-place playoff between Arjun and MVL goes past the 40-move mark but the French GM, who has a slight lead on the eval bar, isn’t giving up just yet!

The Indian GM, meanwhile, offers a check with his rook in his latest move.

Nodirbek has exactly two minutes left on the clock compared to nearly 40 for Nepo. He has a rook on the board in addition to two pawns while the Russian GM has a bishop and an extra pawn.

The Uzbekistani GM should be able to salvage this game despite the time pressure.

Arjun, needing a draw to win the fifth-place playoff, had things under control until committing back-to-back blunders in the 31st (Bg3) and 32nd moves (Nf4). MVL also made an error (31. Rd4) but quickly recovered in his next move (Nxf4), and has since built a solid position for himself on the board.

Can the Indian GM fight on and play out a stalemate? Or will the French GM take this into the tie-breaks? Stay tuned to find out.

The third-place playoff between Caruana and Keymer also ends in a handshake as the two play out a 34-move draw in the third-place playoff. After winning the Weissenhaus leg of the tour with a victory over ‘Fabi’ in the final, Keymer finishes fourth in Paris.

Here’s what the board looks like at the end of Game 2:

World No 1 Carlsen defeats Hikaru Nakamura 1.5-0.5 in the ‘El Chessico’ final in the ‘City of Light’ after holding the world No 2 to a 41-move draw in Game 2!

After falling narrowly short in Weissenhaus with a semi-final defeat against Vincent Keymer, Carlsen goes a step further in Paris and pockets the $200,000 prize money while climbing to the top of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour standings.

Here’s a look at the board at the end of Game 2 between Carlsen and Hikaru:

The two players currently are on level terms with the eval bar dead even at the moment. Nepo, however, has a time advantage of more than 30 minutes over his Uzbekistani opponent at the moment, and might be looking to use that to try and collect a win.

The Russian GM is 1-0 up in any case and a draw will be sufficient for him to finish seventh.

After losing Game 1 on Sunday, Vincent Keymer has been struggling for the better part of Game 2. Fabiano Caruana is on the verge of avenging his defeat against the German GM in the final of the Weissenhaus leg, with the eval bar currently reading 3.2 in his favour after his 27th move.

What doesn’t help Keymer is the fact that he has less than 10 minutes on the clock while his opponent has more than half-an-hour.

Like Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi also needs a draw to win his fifth-place playoff against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and the game currently appears to be headed in that direction. Both players have made some questionable moves along the way.

Magnus Carlsen needs a draw to seal his triumph in the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and he currently is in pole position to achieve that, with Hikaru Nakamura unable to breach his defense so far.

Here’s what the board looks like at the moment, with both players having lost a bishop, rook and knight along the way. The presence of both Queens however, ensures both remain cautious for the time being:

Arjun Erigaisi has shown excellent composure in the last few days, which was evident in the manner in which he fought back from a game down against Ian Nepomniachtchi to advance to the fifth-place playoff.

Here are the heart-rates of the players in action currently:

1. b4 c6
2. g3 g6
3. Bb2 Nf6
4. f4 a5
5. a3 o-o
6. Nf3 d5
7. Nf2 Ng4
8. Bxh8 Kxh8
9. Nd3 f6
10. o-o Nf7
11. Qb2 Nd6
12. e3 Nh6
13. Nf2 Ng4
14. Nd3 Nh6
15. Bg2 Nhf7

Here’s what the board looks like after 15 moves:

1. b4 c6
2. g3 d5
3. Bb2 Qd6
4. b5 e5
5. a4 Ne7
6. bxc6 bxc6
7. Ba3 Qc7
8. c4 Bf5
9. Qb4 d4
10. f4 g6

Here’s what the board looks like after 10 moves:

Vincent Keymer is playing with black pieces in Game 2 of the third-place playoff against Fabiano Caruana after losing Game 1 with white.

His decision to advance his knight forward (Ne6) and pushing his rook to his right (Rd8) isn’t liked by the Stockfish engine, which gives a thumbs up to Fabi’s pawn moves (7. f5 and 8. g4).

Arjun has played his eighth move already while playing with white pieces in Game 2 of the fifth-place playoff, which begins with a b4 c6 opening. We also see an early pawn exchange during the course of these moves, with MVL also taking his Queen a couple of steps forward.

1. b4, c6 2. g3, g6 3. Bb3, Nf6

Final: Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura

3rd-4th Playoff: Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Vincent Keymer

5th-6th Playoff: Arjun Erigaisi 1-0 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

7th-8th Playoff: Ian Nepomniachtchi 1-0 Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Here’s the opening board position for the Carlsen vs Nakamura Game 2.