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No one managed to defeat Magnus Carlsen throughout the tournament. In the interview after his victory over Denis Lazavik in the final, Carlsen spoke about how his rivals have particular difficulty matching his level and challenging his position in this format: online chess with a short time control.
The final consisted of two matches of four games each. If a match had ended level on points, an additional tiebreak game would have been played. That was not necessary, however. Magnus Carlsen won the first and fourth games of both matches, thus earning 2 match points and securing a clear victory over Denis Lazavik.
| Carlsen | Lazavik | |
| Match 1 - Game 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Match 1 - Game 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Match 1 - Game 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Match 1 - Game 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Match points - Match 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Match 2 - Game 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Match 2 - Game 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Match 2 - Game 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Match 2 - Game 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Match points - Match 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Total match points | 2 | 0 |
Carlsen before sacrificing his queen in the final game | Photo: Esports World Cup (EWC)
Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja faced each other in the match for third place. The contest was scheduled as a best-of-six, with the player scoring the most points over six games winning the match. This meant the contest would be decided as soon as one player reached 3.5 points. It never got to the point where either player reached 3.5 points through the games played on the board, however.
After three games, Hikaru Nakamura was already leading 2-1. The first and third games had ended in draws, while Nakamura had won the second. During the fourth game, an error message suddenly appeared on Nakamura's screen. A technical pause was required, after which Nakamura and Firouzja resumed the game. Shortly after play restarted, Firouzja made several mistakes and soon resigned. The score was then 3-1 in Nakamura's favour. He needed only half a point from the final two games to win the match. After resigning the fourth game, Firouzja took off his headphones, stood up and left, even though the fifth game was due to follow. At first the situation was unclear, but it was then announced that Firouzja had left the building and that this amounted to a resignation of the match. No fifth game was played, and Nakamura won the contest for third place.
| Firouzja | Nakamura | |
| Game 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Game 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Game 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Game 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Game 5 | - | + |
| Total score | 1 | 4 |
ChessBase India presents an eight-minute compilation of footage from the conclusion of the match between Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja:
Video: ChessBase India, using footage from the EWC livestream
Game 2: Nakamura has no poker face, reacting with surprise to Firouzja's move | Photo: EWC
Hikaru Nakamura is known for showing his assessment of a position on his face. That was also the case in the second game against Alireza Firouzja. Playing White, Firouzja played 26.Nxd4, and Nakamura immediately grimaced. After a short think, he replied with 26...Rxg3+, sacrificing a rook. Firouzja then resigned.
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