Carlsen beats Nakamura convincingly, wins Chessable Masters

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/22/2025 – Magnus Carlsen emerged victorious in the Chessable Masters Grand Final, defeating Hikaru Nakamura 2½-1½ to claim the title. The Norwegian had already beaten Nakamura in the winners' bracket final and repeated his success with a strong performance. Nakamura missed a key opportunity in game two, and despite needing a win in the fourth game, he could not break Carlsen's resilience. With this result, Carlsen, Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi secured their spots in the Esports World Cup, set for late July.

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He has done it again

The two strongest players of the online, post-Covid era faced off once again in the Grand Final of the Chessable Masters. Magnus Carlsen, who had secured victory in the winners' bracket, defeated Hikaru Nakamura, the winner of the losers' bracket, to claim the title. Just two days earlier, Carlsen had convincingly beaten Nakamura in the winners' bracket final, and he repeated his success with a 2½-1½ victory in the Grand Final.

Carlsen took the lead by winning game one. In the second game, Nakamura missed what Carlsen later described as a "fleeting chance" to equalise.

Had Nakamura played 31.Nxe5 Qxe5 32.Qd4, he could have reached a queen endgame with a pawn advantage after 32...Kf6 33.Qb6+. Instead, Nakamura opted for 31.Ne1, leading to a balanced position that eventually ended in a draw after 61 moves.

A quick draw in game three meant Nakamura had to win the fourth game with White to force a tiebreak.

In the middlegame of game four, Carlsen sacrificed his queen for a rook and a minor piece, a decision not favoured by chess engines. However, he demonstrated his exceptional skill, later stating that he felt "fairly happy" with his level of play. Carlsen ultimately secured a draw from a position of strength, clinching the match and the Chessable Masters title.

With their strong performances in this event, Carlsen, Nakamura, and Ian Nepomniachtchi have qualified for the Esports World Cup, which will take place at the end of July. The second and final online qualifier for that event is scheduled for 18-23 May.

Chessable Masters 2025

Nakamura ½ - ½ Carlsen (Game 4)

Chessable Masters 2025

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Topics: Champions Chess Tour 2025, Chessable Masters 2025, Magnus Carlsen
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.