Norway Chess: Nakamura beats Carlsen in thrilling Armageddon

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/4/2024 – An exciting round in Stavanger saw Hikaru Nakamura beating Magnus Carlsen on time in the Armageddon decider to close the gap to the world number one in the standings — Naka now stands a half point behind Carlsen in sole second place. R Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja also prevailed in Armageddon, against Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana, respectively. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

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Carlsen still sole leader

With three rounds to go at the Norway Chess event, 5-time tournament winner Magnus Carlsen stands in sole first place with 13 points to his name. Placed second and third, Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa, still have very realistic chances of catching up with the local hero — especially after Nakamura got the better of Carlsen in their round-7 Armageddon tiebreaker.

After a 20-move draw in their classical confrontation, Nakamura defeated Carlsen with white in a thrilling encounter (see full analysis below). Notably, the US star found a nice tactical shot in the early middlegame, then saw Carlsen defending resourcefully to restore the balance, and then flagged the Norwegian amid a tricky endgame with rook, knight and pawn against rook and four pawns.

The two remaining mini-matches were also enthralling contests. Fabiano Caruana defended a tough position in the classical game against Alireza Firouzja, but was then defeated by his younger colleague in the rapid tiebreaker. Meanwhile, Ding Liren missed winning chances both in the classical and the rapid game against Praggnanandhaa.

In Armageddon, Ding played a natural-looking move which saw the evaluation of the position going from around -4 to around +5 (the world champion was playing black).

21...Rdg8 loses to 22.Ndf3, which Pragg played after thinking for only 10 seconds. The backward knight move both defends the knight on g5 and discovers an attack against the bishop on d6 — if the bishop moves anywhere, White counts with Rd2-d7, both attacking the queen and creating deadly threats connected to Ng5-f7+.

Ding played 22...h6 and resigned after 23.Rxd6

Instead of 21...Rdg8, Ding could have played 21...Bb4 (diagram below), keeping a large advantage for Black.

Playing Nd4-f3 no longer works tactically, while after 22.Rc2 e5 23.Rxc4 exd4 24.Rxb4 Rdg8, doubling the rooks at the right time, Black is winning — and only needs a draw in the tiebreaker.

It was a rather unfortunate loss for Ding, but it was nice to see the world champion stopping the losing streak (he came from losing four classical games in a row) and even getting promising positions in his two encounters against Pragg.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Ding Liren

Praggnanandhaa and Ding Liren | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Nakamura 1 - 0 Carlsen (Armageddon)

Analysis by André Schulz

Standings after round 7

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2830 13
2 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2794 12.5
3 R Praggnanandhaa IND 2747 11
4 Alireza Firouzja FRA 2737 9.5
5 Fabiano Caruana USA 2805 7.5
6 Ding Liren CHN 2762 3.5

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

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Topics: Hikaru Nakamura, Norway Chess 2024
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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Norway Chess: Naka new world number 2, Pragg and Carlsen score

6/2/2024 – For a second round in a row at the Norway Chess event in Stavanger, all three classical games ended decisively. Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa each grabbed 3 points after beating Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana respectively. Nakamura thus kept the sole lead — his victory over Ding also saw him surpass the 2800-rating barrier and climb to the second spot in the live ratings list. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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Norway Chess: Naka beats Pragg to grab the lead, Carlsen beats Caruana

5/31/2024 – For the first time in this year’s edition of the Norway Chess super-tournament, all three games in a single round ended decisively. Hikaru Nakamura defeated former leader R Praggnanandhaa to climb to sole first place; Alireza Firouzja is Nakamura’s closest chaser after beating world champion Ding Liren; while Magnus Carlsen stands in third place thanks to his victory over Fabiano Caruana. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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60m English The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.