Magnus Carlsen reveals 'psychological' edge over Hikaru Nakamura after winning Paris Grand Slam

In a chat with the Paris Grand Slam commentary team, Magnus Carlsen explained how he managed to “shut” Hikaru Nakamura out completely in the final while talking about the world No 2’s “psychological” issue against him.

After falling narrowly short with a semi-final defeat against the relatively unfancied Vincent Keymer in Weissenhaus, Magnus Carlsen went the distance in the second event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris. What made his triumph in the ‘City of Light’ even more special was the fact that he
defeated Hikaru Nakamura in a dream showdown between two of the world’s top-ranked players, winning by a 1.5-0.5 scoreline after capitalising on a blunder by the American Grandmaster in the first game.

In a chat with commentators David Howell, Tania Sachdev and James Patterson after his victory, which helped him pocked the
$200,000 prize money and
move to the top of the Grand Slam Tour standings, Carlsen shared his thoughts on his victory in the ‘El Chessico’ final against Nakamura and why the world No 2 struggles against him.

“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,” the Norwegian GM said on the Paris final, in which he sealed his victory with a sedate draw on Monday.

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