by Tatev Abrahamyan

Hikaru Nakamura showed off his nerves of steel today and emerged as the winner of the 2018 Paris Grand Chess Tour. The American is no stranger to the winner’s circle as he has previously won the 2016 edition a full point ahead of Magnus Carlsen. He earned $37,500 and 13 tour points for his efforts. Sergey Karjakin who started the day a point ahead of the field, collapsed during the second half, losing two games and quickly drawing the last one. This was only enough to secure a second-place finish. Wesley So finished in third place and is leading the overall Grand Chess Tour with 21 points, while Hikaru Nakamura is in second place with 20 points.

Final standings. In the rapid, a win is worth 2 points, a draw is 1 point and a loss is 0. In the blitz, a win is 1 point, a draw is .5 points and a loss is 0

Nakamura dominated the day with 6.5/9, winning four games, drawing five with zero losses. Going into the last round he was a full point ahead of Karjakin and only needed a draw against his countryman Fabiano Caruana to secure his first-place finish. There were no friendly draw offers in this game as Nakamura found himself in a lost position. Unbeknown to him, Karjakin’s early draw had secured Nakamura’s first place. He even was able to take advantage of Caruana’s poor form and went on to win the game in the time scramble, reminiscent of Caruana’s own last round win the Candidates when he only needed a draw.

Hikaru Nakamura, the winner of 2018 Paris Grand Chess Tour

Sergey Karjakin remained in the lead until round 15 when he stumbled and lost to Viswanathan Anand, allowing Nakamura to catch up to him. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave made it two losses in a row for Karjakin, relegating him behind Nakamura, an obstacle the Russian was not able to overcome. Whereas yesterday Karjakin showed excellent form, today he was barely escaping with draws in lost positions. His poor form finally caught up to him and he eventually collapsed under pressure. He collected 10 tour points and $25,000.

Wesley So did not show a lot of ambition today and drew eight games in a row after winning his first-round game. This result was enough to keep him in the lead in overall tour standings after earning 8 tour points and $20,000. Levon Aronian had an excellent performance with 6/9, only half a point behind Nakamura for the day. Unfortunately, because of his poor showing in the rapid, this was not enough to give him realistic chances of winning the event. He finished in fourth place collecting 7 tour points and $15,000. The fifth-place finisher was Parisian Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who collected 6 tour points and $12,500.

Final standings with prize and tour point distribution

After a month break, the tour will arrive to Saint Louis in August with the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz followed by the Sinquefield Cup. As per the regulations, the top four finishers after the Sinquefield Cup will move on to the finals in London where the winner will be decided in a series of matches.

Tour standings after Your Next Move and Paris

All information is available on GrandChessTour.org. Live commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Jovanka Houska, and GM Alejandro Ramirez. As last year, GM Maurice Ashley will be on-site in Paris to interview players and will be joined by GM Romain Edouard. The English broadcast will be joined by the Russian commentary team of GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko and GM Yaroslav Zherebukh and French team of Astrid Bard (Canal+ Anchor), IM Jean-Baptist Mullon, GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Almira Skripchenko. Watch live.

Photo credits: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes & Spectrum Studios

Further Information:
Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour
#GrandChessTour

Watch the games of the Paris Grand Chess Tour 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

Paris Grand Chess Tour Rapid Day 4 Recap

by Tatev Abrahamyan

Finally, the 2018 Grand Chess Tour has a new leader. Wesley So has been dominant in Leuven and in the rapid portion in Paris, but today he handed the reigns over to Sergey Karjakin. The Russian explained his fantastic performance in blitz is due to the fact that he is more relaxed and simply plays chess. Wherein classical chess requires preparation and hours of play, blitz is more fun to play according to him. Going into the last day of Paris, Karjakin is leading by a full point ahead of the field. The tournament is still wide open as Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian are striking distance away.

Combined rapid and day 1 blitz standings. In the rapid, a win is worth 2 points, a draw is 1 point and a loss is 0. In the blitz, a win is 1 point, a draw is .5 points and a loss is 0

Sergey Karjakin was simply brilliant today. First he took the lead by defeating Wesley So in their head-to-head match in round four. He then went on to win his next two games, scoring an unbelievable 5.5/6. At that point it seemed as though he might finish the day with 8.5/9! Hikaru Nakamura, who drew the leader in round one, decided to simply focus on his own results, as Karjakin’s results were no longer in his control. The Russian did stumble in the remaining three games, losing two of them, but still remains ahead of the field.

Sergey Karjakin vs Wesley So

Hikaru Nakamura who entered the day tied with Karjakin for second place is only a point behind the leader. The American who is known for his skills in faster time controls, scored 5.5/9 losing only one game in the penultimate round. He and Karjakin are set to face off in the first round tomorrow. Nakamura will have the white pieces and is in an excellent position to catch the leader.

Nakamura’s countryman, Wesley So, on the other hand had a subpar day scoring only four points. In Leuven, he entered the blitz portion with a three point lead over the field, thus making bridging the gap a much harder task. His one point lead here proved insignificant as his play was just solid and only yielded one win.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got a lucky break in round two when Fabiano Caruana ran out of time after giving up his winning chances. From then on he also went on a winning streak only losing one game in round six. The Frenchman scored a significant victory in round seven against Karjakin, which was the Russian’s first loss of the day. In the blitz alone, he scored 6/9, only half a point behind Karjakin.

The players watching the conclusion of Vachier-Lagrave vs Karjakin

Levon Aronian is the last player in the pack who still has realistic chances of catching the leader or at least finishing in top three. He only suffered one loss against Karjakin but otherwise made too many draws to put himself in a better position going into the last day of the blitz. He sits 1.5 points ahead of Viswanathan Anand, whose only victory of the day came in round seven.

There is one player who caused all the shake up in the standings yet isn’t on top of the standings: Shakriyar Mamedyarov. The Azeri grandmaster had an atrocious start to the day, scoring only one point in the first five games. His recovery came in the most inopportune time for the leaders as he defeated Karjakin, Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave and drew Aronian. Due to his slow start this result only bumped him to the seventh spot in the standings but if he can keep up his momentum tomorrow, his opponents will have a lot to worry about!

Shakriyar Mamedyarov spoiled the day for the leaders

Further Information:
Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour
#GrandChessTour

Watch the games of the Paris Grand Chess Tour 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.