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The first game of the final at the 2025 Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam featured a tense and strategic battle between the world's top two players, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Carlsen ultimately emerged victorious, outmanoeuvring his opponent in an endgame to take a 1–0 lead in the two-game match.
The encounter began with a sharp opening phase in which Carlsen, playing with the white pieces, immediately began the fight for the initiative.
Nakamura found himself under pressure, with his position becoming more difficult as Carlsen continued to make progress. Despite this, the US grandmaster demonstrated his usual tenacity in defence, repeatedly finding practical resources to stay in the game and hold off Carlsen's advances.
As the players transitioned into the endgame, the position remained complex. Carlsen's pieces were more active, but Nakamura continued to pose problems with solid defensive play. The turning point came on move 35, when Nakamura, instead of opting for the straightforward 35...Rxh2, played the ill-fated 35...Ba2.
Carlsen played 36.Bf8+, and Naka resigned. Although Carlsen later admitted that he had not handled the conversion perfectly, his advantage was sufficient to carry him over the line.
The two highest-rated players in the world (in classical chess) | Photo: Stev Bonhage
In the third-place match, Fabiano Caruana also scored a key victory, defeating Vincent Keymer with the black pieces. The German grandmaster had the initiative early on, sacrificing a pawn in exchange for long-term structural and positional pressure. However, once the pawn was recovered, Caruana's activity, particularly his bishop pair, began to tell.
Time pressure became a major factor late in the game, and a missed defensive opportunity by Keymer left him struggling in an inferior endgame.
Caruana's 32...Rc3 was an imprecision, but Keymer failed to find the best defensive try with 33.Qa1. Instead, the German star went for 33.Bd5 e6 (33...Rc8 is better), and he found nothing better than 34.Nxe6, giving up a piece.
Although he resisted for many moves, the position eventually collapsed, and Keymer was forced to resign on move 66.
Fabiano Caruana scored a win with the black pieces | Photo: Stev Bonhage
There were also wins in the placement matches further down the table. Arjun Erigaisi overcame Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to take the lead in the 5th-place match, while Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in their 7th-place fixture. Both players will be looking to secure those spots outright in the second games, avoiding the need for tiebreaks.
The Grand Slam tournament concludes on Monday with the final round of classical games. A draw will be enough for Carlsen and Caruana to claim first and third places respectively, while Nakamura and Keymer must win to take their respective matches to tiebreaks.
Arjun Erigaisi got the better of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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