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Magnus Carlsen Invitational: Carlsen vs Nakamura Live!
5/3/2020 – The final match of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational features the world champion facing quick-play specialist Hikaru Nakamura. They first play a four-game rapid match with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds. In case of a tie, two blitz games with a time control of 5'+3" will follow. If these do not break the tie, an Armageddon game will be played. The action kicks off at 14:00 UTC (16:00 CEST, 10:00 EST). | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Final match: Carlsen vs Nakamura
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational involves two stages. First a round-robin and then a knockout among the top four players in the standings.
- During the round-robin, each match-up will include four rapid games (15 minutes plus 10-second increments), and in case of a tie an Armageddon game (5 v 4 minutes) will be the decider. If a players gets the victory without needing the sudden-death tiebreaker, he will get 3 points, while a win in the playoff will give the winner 2 points and the loser 1 point.
- In the semi-finals and the final, the same four-game rapid format will be employed, except that in case of a tie the contenders will play two sets of blitz games (5 minutes plus 3-second increments) before going to Armageddon. The tie can be broken in the first set of blitz encounters.
Final Four bracket
Live games and commentary
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational is brought to you by chess24.com. Learn more about the tournament at magnuscarlsen.com/en/invitational
Line-up and schedule
The most talked-about rising star in the world at the moment, 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja, will be among the eight participants. The wunderkind showed what he is capable of at this year's Tata Steel Masters, getting the sole lead for a couple of rounds. Furthermore, he is known for his abilities in faster time controls, as proven during last year's World Rapid & Blitz Championships, and more recently during a 16-game match with a 3-minute-to-finish time control in which he beat the world champion.
Firouzja will nonetheless be the eighth seed, as he will be joined by the five highest-rated players in the world, perennial elite star Anish Giri and blitz specialist Hikaru Nakamura. The full line-up:
| Player | Classical | World # | Rapid | World # | Blitz | World # |
| Magnus Carlsen | 2863 | 1 | 2881 | 1 | 2887 | 2 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2835 | 2 | 2773 | 11 | 2711 | 35 |
| Ding Liren | 2791 | 3 | 2836 | 3 | 2788 | 8 |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2784 | 4 | 2778 | 9 | 2785 | 9 |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2778 | 5 | 2860 | 2 | 2822 | 3 |
| Anish Giri | 2764 | 10 | 2731 | 24 | 2752 | 22 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 2736 | 18 | 2829 | 4 | 2900 | 1 |
| Alireza Firouzja | 2728 | 21 | 2703 | 37 | 2750 | 24 |
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