Freestyle Chess Tour Paris: Carlsen capitalises on Hikaru blunder in Game 1 of final; Arjun inches closer to 5th place

Hikaru Nakamura was steering Game 1 of his blockbuster showdown with Magnus Carlsen towards a draw when his decision to advance his bishop in the 35th move proved fatal, allowing the world No 1 to seize the lead.

Magnus Carlsen capitalised on a blunder by Hikaru Nakamura to seize the lead in the final of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Paris on Saturday while Arjun Erigaisi collected his third victory in four games to inch closer to the fifth spot. The penultimate day of the Paris leg of the inaugural Grand Slam Tour witnessed all four games ending on a decisive note, with Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi also winning their games besides Carlsen and Erigaisi.

In the dream showdown between two of the world’s top players, Nakamura fought back impressively in the middle game while playing with black pieces and was handling every curveball that the world No 1 sent his way. However, Nakamura committed a blunder in what would prove to be his final move of the evening, undoing all of his hard work in the process.

The American GM left his King unguarded by advancing his bishop (Ba2), towards the second rank, where he had also positioned a rook in order to keep Carlsen’s King in check. The Norwegian GM immediately responded by moving his own bishop aside (Bf8+) to give Nakamura a check with his rook.

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