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Nakamura Earns Rematch Vs. Carlsen In Grand Final

Nakamura Earns Rematch Vs. Carlsen In Grand Final

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NM AnthonyLevin
| 12 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Hikaru Nakamura defeated GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Losers Final by holding a draw with the black pieces in the armageddon tiebreak. He has earned his second match against GM Magnus Carlsen in the 2025 Chessable Masters Grand Final on the last day of this event. The winner will walk away with $25,000 and 100 tour points.

The Grand Final between Carlsen and Nakamura is on Friday, February 21, starting at 11:00 a.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.

Playoffs Bracket

 

It was a long and arduous road for Nepomniachtchi through the Losers Bracket. He won two matches and got all the way to tiebreaks in the third, but Nakamura was the winner.

Losers Quarterfinals: Nepomniachtchi, Duda Sweep The Opposition

Winning the first game was key in both matches. The opponents, Arjun and Firouzja, were unable to win on demand in game two so we had no armageddon tiebreaks.

Nepomniachtchi 2-0 Arjun

The match was essentially decided in game one, where Arjun opted for the heavily theoretical—and rare at the top levels now—Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. Arjun played the first new move after 21 moves of following correspondence chess but enjoyed no advantage.

Later, Nepomniachtchi was two pawns down but with full compensation. 55...Qc7!? set up a nice trap (in addition to just attacking the g3-pawn) that appeared on the board. After 56.Nf4?? Bxf4! Black sacrificed the exchange for a devastating attack on the diagonals.

Needing to win on demand with the black pieces, in a French Exchange Variation, was just too much for Arjun in game two. He played provocatively but only got a worse, and then losing, position, and Nepomniachtchi had no problems in securing his first match.

Duda 2-0 Firouzja 

It wasn't pretty, but Duda got the job done. Like in the other match, game one—won with the black pieces—was critical in deciding the match. "That is chess meets esports, ladies and gentlemen!" said GM Aman Hambleton as the Polish number-one, in a clearly losing piece-down position, played solely to flag his opponent. 

That is chess meets esports, ladies and gentlemen!

—Aman Hambleton

For what it's worth, the final position was actually winning for Black, though the clock was the most important factor in deciding Firouzja's fate. Some say that the clock is the 17th chess piece.

Firouzja, needing to win with Black, played the Leningrad Dutch, but Duda achieved a better, then winning position. Duda then liquidated into a level endgame, knowing that's all he needed to move on, and he even won anyway.

Losers Semifinals: Nepomniachtchi Cuts Ahead

After a draw in game one, Nepomniachtchi won with the black pieces to take the match.

Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5 Duda

Nepomniachtchi, playing the white side of the Italian, sacrificed a pawn in game one and was objectively lost at one point, but he ultimately held a rook endgame with one pawn less.

In game two, the Russian number-one simply made no mistakes on the black side of a Catalan Opening. He equalized cleanly and, essentially, Duda made just one mistake; allowing the queen trade with 25.Bf1? landed him in a lost position. Nepomniachtchi showed exceptional technique to convert the full point without any shenanigans. 

Losers Final: Nepomniachtchi Saves Clutch 2nd Game, Nakamura Succeeds In Tiebreak

Nakamura won their previous encounter 3-0 on the very first day of the Playoffs, but this encounter was much closer. All three games were drawn, but they were full of action, mistakes, and turnarounds.

Nakamura 1.5-1.5 Nepomniachtchi 

Only game one was the least interesting, with both players racking up 98 percent accuracy. No one can win when both play a perfect game.

Nakamura could have ended it all in game two and lessened the drama, but that's not what happened. The American GM outplayed his opponent in a long, maneuvering game, but the nerves started to show when he got down to five minutes. Up a pawn, he allowed Nepomniachtchi back into the game with 43...Nh5?, but later he was again in the driver's seat with two extra pawns.

Nepo pulled a Houdini to save the game—and he even came close to winning it on time. GM Rafael Leitao's analysis is below.

Nepomniachtchi shockingly bid 10 minutes for the black pieces in armageddon, guaranteeing himself White. Nakamura couldn't have known about this ahead of time, of course, and he had six minutes and 37 seconds to hold the draw with Black—even though any bid below 10 minutes would have gotten the same result.

The most critical moment of the game was on move 20, when Nakamura retreated 20...Nf6? and immediately started shaking his head, realizing 20...Nxf2! would have made his life much easier. Nepomniachtchi had a brief advantage, but it quickly evaporated. He played energetically, but Nakamura found the key move 23...e4! and liquidation was unavoidable.

 The U.S. player got to tip his hat to IM Levy Rozman at the end as well, sacrificing his rook for the draw and also for the memes.

You can listen to Nakamura's video recap below.

This means we have the "el classico" matchup of Carlsen and Nakamura, Team Liquid vs. Team Falcons, in the Grand Final. Will Carlsen win it again, or will Nakamura win twice to take the first title in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour?

    How To Watch
    You can review the event on Chess.com's YouTube or Twitch channels, as well as on GM Hikaru Nakamura's Kick channel. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
    GM Aman Hambleton and WGM Dina Belenkaya hosted the broadcast.

    The Chessable Masters is the first of two legs in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour. On February 17, the world's best players competed in the Play-in, a nine-round Swiss with a 10-minute time control (no increment). The top eight qualify, with eight invited players, for the Playoffs, a four-day event on February 18-21 with a prize fund of $150,000. The top-12 on the CCT leaderboard make it to the Esports World Cup in the summer of 2025.

    Previous coverage:

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