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Nakamura Halts Carlsen's Comeback, Clinches 4th Title

Nakamura Halts Carlsen's Comeback, Clinches 4th Title

NM_Vanessa
NM NM_Vanessa
| 70 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Hikaru Nakamura clinched the Bullet Chess Championship 2023 on Friday, shutting down GM Magnus Carlsen's comeback in overtime in an epic Grand Final. 

Back in Norway with his home setup, Carlsen switched into another gear and went on a tear in the Losers Bracket, defeating GM Daniel Naroditsky and taking his revenge on GM Alireza Firouzja. In the final, Carlsen even fought back against the reigning champion's five-point lead, tying the match and forcing overtime.

Ultimately, due to his unparalleled ability to increase the pressure on the board and the clock, Nakamura prevailed, winning his fourth BCC championship. 

How to watch?
You can watch the 2023 Bullet Chess Championship on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on the Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive.
Live broadcast of Friday's matches, hosted by GM Robert Hess and IM Danny Rensch. 

Though bullet is its own arena with unique emphasis on the clock, at heart it is also an excellent test of a player’s intuition. As the precious seconds tick down, competitors have to make countless critical decisions, creating middlegame plans, launching king attacks, finding defensive resources, calculating tactics, and applying their endgame understanding. 

Carlsen shared his insights on this:

“I’ve played some bullet over the years, but the thing is I’ve never played Hikaru. I’ve seen Hikaru crush everybody else. I always kinda thought that I matched up decently with him. My main strength, which is also his main strength, is we’re simply better at chess than the others, and so we can make good moves more quickly while they need to spend time.”

It’s no surprise that despite the lightning fast time control, it ultimately came down to the top two classical players, Carlsen and Nakamura, wrestling it out for the crown. 

Carlsen started the day in the Losers Bracket after being knocked down in the semifinals by Firouzja. Both Naroditsky―a grandmaster known for his middle-of-the-night bullet marathons―and the ever-tricky Firouzja stood in the way of Carlsen's chance to square off against Nakamura for the first time in bullet.

Losers Semifinal:

Losers Final:

Grand Final:

Carlsen vs. Naroditsky 12.5-7.5

The day started with a completely different Carlsen, jovially singing as he played many of his games, in contrast to his struggles on previous days. Carlsen was more focused and faster, boosted by being able to play from home with his own setup. 

In game nine, Naroditsky resigned in a drawn position. Both White's queen and rook are under attack, can you find the hidden escape hatch?

White to move.

Though Carlsen took the early lead, Naroditsky countered to gain several skillful victories.

As the match timer fell under four minutes, Carlsen reached an insurmountable five-point lead. The match ended on a whimsical note, with both competitors laughing at Naroditsky's cheeky stalemate trick, taking advantage of Carlsen's auto-queen setting. 

After the match, Naroditsky shared his insights from playing against both Carlsen and Nakamura:

"In the early middlegame, the speed with which Magnus makes decisions in critical moments is crazy, like my mouth literally falls open... When these two players are in their best form, it's literally like playing an engine. It's almost indistinguishable."

It's literally like playing an engine. It's almost indistinguishable.

―Daniel Naroditsky

Carlsen vs. Firouzja 11-9

This was Carlsen's chance for vengeance against Firouzja, who confidently defeated him in the Winners Semifinals.

Carlsen kicked off the match strong, offering a queen sacrifice to create an unstoppable passer. When Firouzja declined, Carlsen soon brewed up a king attack out of the blue.

Conjuring another sudden king attack, Carlsen scored a second win in a row.

With his sensational quickness, Firouzja stopped Carlsen from reaching 3-0, stealing a first victory. 

The 20-year-old grandmaster began to turn the tide. He went on a six-game winning streak, flying through tying the match into a three-point lead. Below is the finish from the game that capped off the streak, showing the clarity of his ideas. By simply developing his last piece in game 11, he set up unstoppable threats around Carlsen's king. 

Position after Firouzja's game-ending 24.Rhd1!

Firouzja held that lead for most of the duel, but suddenly, as the match clock ticked under five minutes, Carlsen started to put a dent in Firouzja’s lead.

Allowing his opponent to queen first so he could set up a promotion with checkmate, Carlsen won a third game in a row, tying the match with less than a minute left. 

Then, Carlsen took the lead as the players went into overtime. On the verge of defeat, Firouzja proved himself nearly invincible, surviving two vicious attempts to flag him by the 16th world champion.

Yet, in the third playoff game, Carlsen gained such an advantage on the board and clock that Firouzja resigned. 

The match was over, and there was just one person left to play: Nakamura.

Nakamura vs. Carlsen 17-15

Echoing the finale of the 2022 Speed Chess Championship, once again Nakamura and Carlsen collide with everything on the line. 

Amazingly, despite their nearly lifelong rivalry, Carlsen and Nakamura have never before played each other in this format. 

Carlsen's debut culminating in their Grand Final matchup evokes a memorable cinematic scene from film history: Neo’s first sparring match as Morpheus introduces him to the rules of the Matrix. The moves of Carlsen and Nakamura blaze across the board at inhuman speeds much like the iconic characters flash across the screen, bending the laws of physics. 

Game two was a spectacular display of the skills of both players. Nakamura is down 10 seconds in the early middlegame, yet he finds a way to shut down Carlsen’s attack, winning a piece in the process and soon equalizing on the clock. Then, down a rook, Carlsen keeps the battle going, finding a perpetual check in the last seconds. 

As Rensch remarked: “These guys' ability to stare down the barrel of insanity is what separates them.”

Nakamura can flag opponents in drawish positions with ease. One of his favorites seems to be the classicly drawn bishop and wrong-color rook pawn, which he won three times this event, once against Carlsen and twice against Firouzja in the Winners Final. 

Morpheus: “How did I beat you?”
Neo: “You’re too fast.”

In the middle of the match, Nakamura reached a flow state, dancing to music as he went on a four-game winning streak, gaining a five-point lead. 

The second half of the match was a tug-of-war between Carlsen’s attempts to cut into Nakamura’s lead, and the American grandmaster’s efforts to maintain it. They created breathtaking games along the way, pushing each other to the max. 

Neo runs along the walls of the virtual reality dojo and flips over Morpheus, but his rival has a well-timed kick ready, thrusting him into a pillar. Neo stands, ready for another round. 

As the match raged on, the ever-persistent Carlsen accumulated fragments of progress, shrinking his opponent's lead to two points. When Nakamura struck back, Carlsen countered again. As Hess observed: “The more games Carlsen plays, the faster he gets.”

In a mutually creative game, Carlsen fends off Nakamura’s strategic queen sacrifice, cutting the American grandmaster’s lead down to one point with three minutes remaining. 

As the final grains of sand fell from the hourglass, Carlsen won again, tying the match and sending it into overtime. 

Surprisingly, in such an extraordinary duel, Carlsen hadn’t taken over the lead once. In overtime, Nakamura yet again stepped ahead on the scoreboard. In the fourth game, he seized the opportunity to race his unstoppable passer to promotion, sealing the required two-point edge to end the match. 

Afterwards, Nakamura shared what he saw as the key to his victory:

“I think that was the main thing: I really mastered the tempo, and I was able to just keep moving quickly, and Magnus just wasn’t able to be as precise in some of the critical games.” 

Carlsen reflected on Nakamura's performance: "I'm extremely impressed. I always thought that he was somewhat better than I was at bullet, but that he was this much better, I didn't realize. It's insanely impressive."

I'm extremely impressed.

―Magnus Carlsen

Nakamura wins $20,000 for his fourth title, while Carlsen earns $16,000 for second. Firouzja takes home $12,000, and Naroditsky gains $8000.

Final Bracket

Standings


The Bullet Chess Championship 2023 (BCC) is Chess.com's most elite bullet chess event and part of the Speed Chess Championship series. The event's qualifiers happened on July 6 and 7, with the main event occurring on July 17 through 21. The fastest players in the world compete for their share of the $100,000 prize fund and a spot in the Speed Chess Championship's main event.  

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NM_Vanessa
NM Vanessa West

Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.

You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West

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