The most recent conflict between American chess titans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana ended with one other spectacular win for the previous, who has now put himself in a superb place to safe a Candidates Event invitation to affix his compatriot within the battle for the largest title of all of them.
The world quantity two and world quantity three battled it out within the penultimate spherical of the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss in a bid to set themselves up for a title tilt on the final day of play. With Caruana wielding the Black items and having a lot much less to play for, having already secured his spot on the Candidates, some predicted a tame draw—however what the gamers delivered was something however.
This wasn’t the primary time the 2 gamers clashed in high-stakes classical video games this yr with Nakamura clinching the victory at this year’s Norway Chess event in dramatic trend. The streamer extraordinaire defeated Caruana to finish a monstrous comeback, detonating some monstrous opening preparation alongside the way in which.
Historical past has repeated itself now as Nakamura caught Caruana off guard once more, this time within the Scotch Variation of the 4 Knights Sport. Although the place stayed even for the primary 18 strikes, the clock occasions instructed a distinct story: Naka, nonetheless absolutely in e-book, gained a surplus of 6.5 minutes over his beginning time whereas Caruana was already down half an hour, making his first mistake of the sport.
The crucial error adopted simply two strikes later, with 20. – Rc8? permitting each the cold-blooded Be5 and the much less exact however nonetheless devastating piece sacrifice that adopted within the recreation.
The place remained extraordinarily sophisticated all through, and Caruana even had a slim alternative to engineer an escape, however as his time dwindled right down to little greater than the 30-second increment, Nakamura’s stress was unimaginable to withstand.
With this end result, Caruana is now out of the working for a prime end and he gained’t be capable of enhance on his earlier runner-up finishes at earlier Grand Swiss occasions all regardless of the very fact he has additionally briefly peaked above 2800 Elo once more on the dwell rankings earlier within the match after his victory against Hans Niemann.
Nonetheless, having already confirmed his spot on the 2024 Candidates Event—the occasion that decides the subsequent world championship challenger—he can nonetheless look again at this era as a profitable one. Defending his US championship title additionally gained’t damage in that regard.
In the meantime, Nakamura remains to be within the working for one of many prime two finishes that might affirm a direct invitation to the Candidates, although he’s additionally acquired the score spot in his again pocket now. The best-rated non-qualified participant on this planet may also earn themselves a spot, and with Carlsen declining the invitation and Caruana already certified, plus Alireza Firouzja’s poor exhibiting at this match, Naka’s now secure within the information that he can rely on that qualification avenue as nicely.
The 2023 version of the FIDE Grand Swiss Event concludes tomorrow. Round 10 was an all-out bloodbath, with every of the highest 9 boards ending with a decisive end result. With six gamers (Esipenko, Nakamura, and Vidit on 7.5 factors, adopted by Predke, Erigaisi, and Keymer on seven) still in the running for a top-two end, it’s going to be an thrilling conclusion for some of the essential chess occasions of the yr.
