Carlsen Beats Nakamura In Grand Final, Wins 2025 Chessable Masters

It took just about one hour for GM Magnus Carlsen to win the Grand Final against GM Hikaru Nakamura and thus the 2025 Chessable Masters, the first event of this year's Champions Chess Tour. He defeated the U.S. number-one for the second time in the event with a score of 2.5-1.5.

Carlsen had a smooth win in game one, and two draws later he was one more draw away from victory. After blundering a tactic, and giving Nakamura a shot at reaching tiebreaks, Carlsen sacrificed his queen and even managed to outplay his opponent from an inferior position. 

The second leg of the Champions Chess Tour takes place on May 18-23.

Playoffs Bracket

Carlsen earns $25,000 and 100 tour points, while $20,000 and 80 tour points go to Nakamura. The top-12 on the leaderboard after this year's two CCT events will qualify for the 2025 Esports World Cup. Carlsen, Nakamura, and third-placed GM Ian Nepomniachtchi are already guaranteed spots.

Whereas last year players would earn entry into the second event based on how they finished, this is not the case this year. Eight players are invited for leg two and the other eight qualify through the Play-in. Here are the standings after this first event:

Tour Points Leaderboard

Carlsen won their last encounter in the Winners Final with a game to spare. Nakamura came close to reaching the tiebreaks and essentially had two chances in the entire match—for literally one move in game two and then a more realistic opportunity came in game four.

The world number-one won, by their standards, an easy game one. After following a GM Hans Niemann vs. Nakamura game from the 2024 Speed Chess Championship, Carlsen deviated with the plan of 15.Bxc6 and created a passed a-pawn. Nakamura's clearest chance to eliminate the threatening passer was 29...Ba4!, and when he missed that his position became difficult.

In the game, he collapsed when he grabbed the pawn on d3 and lost a piece, but his position was already beyond repair.  

What followed were two draws, the first one more exciting than the second. In an otherwise flawless game by both sides, Nakamura had one chance—exactly one move—to transition into a queen endgame up a pawn. He sensed the moment, paused, and instead played 31.Ne1?—and the game petered out.

Hikaru misses a big chance in game two! 31.Nxe5 Qxe5 32.Qd4 Kf6 33.Qb6+ wins the b-pawn for no compensation!

Instead, 31.Ne1? was played.https://t.co/p97HmuwWA2#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/WlAWwgXXUi

— chess24 (@chess24com) February 21, 2025

Carlsen recognized that mistake, later saying, "That was a fleeting chance that he missed. I think apart from that he didn't have anything."

Game three virtually didn't happen. It lasted 10 moves and a few seconds, as Nakamura agreed to a threefold repetition and placed his bets on winning with White in the last game.

The players make a draw in 10 moves so Magnus leads by one going into the last game!https://t.co/BnGqMFevtw#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/L8cmReMx6V

— chess24 (@chess24com) February 21, 2025

Carlsen didn't agree with this match strategy, saying in the post-match interview that Nakamura himself had advocated against it in the past:

I've heard Hikaru talk about this specific situation before when he actually feels like it's a mistake for the person with the black pieces to allow an early draw and that generally you should try to push in both games three and four if you're down by one point, so I was a little bit surprised that he allowed that. 

In a must-win game four, Nakamura had his best chance of the match when Carlsen blundered a one-move discovered attack. The former world champion sacrificed his queen to complicate matters—in fact it was the best and only non-losing choice. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the chaotic brawl below, where ultimately Carlsen's pesky minor pieces outperformed the enemy queen.

Post-Covid, Carlsen has won eight matches against Nakamura and lost two—once in the 2022 Speed Chess Championship and then in the 2023 Bullet Chess Championship. He has now won eight out of 10 Grand Finals in the last three years and is the king of the Champions Chess Tour, having won every edition since it began in 2020.

He's often critical of his play, even when he wins, but wasn't this time. He said in the interview, "I felt overall in the course of two matches [against Nakamura] I played the better chess and generally am fairly happy with my level."

I played the better chess and generally am fairly happy with my level.

—Magnus Carlsen

WGM Dina Belenkaya asked him about his recent podcast appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience and his thoughts about appearing just after Donald Trump and Elon Musk. He answered:

I don't really think about the other guests that have been there and so on. I was just trying to do my best and hang on. I don't think it went quite fantastic, but I think overall it's going to bring publicity to the game.

Finally, she asked if he'd miss Nakamura if he retired—a prospect the American GM has been entertaining lately. "Of course!" said Carlsen, explaining further that Nakamura is a strong chess player even if the mistakes will grow more frequent with age:

I think Hikaru is still an incredibly strong player as you saw in his matches... I don't see him retiring at least from faster chess any time soon. He enjoys it, and there are going to be mishaps here and there, they're coming from me a well, and there will be more and more with age, but it's still fine.

 I don't see him retiring at least from faster chess any time soon.

—Magnus Carlsen

You can listen to Nakamura's thoughts about the match in the video recap below.

That's it for the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour. It returns—and ends—in May, when we will know which 12 players move on to the 2025 Esports World Cup taking place this summer. You can see the full prize breakdown for this event below.

Previous coverage:

• Playoffs Day 3: Nakamura Earns Rematch Vs. Carlsen In Grand Final
• Playoffs Day 2: Carlsen Advances To Grand Final, Sends Arjun, Nakamura To Losers Bracket
• Playoffs Day 1: Firouzja Edges Out Caruana, Advances With Carlsen, Nakamura, Arjun To Winners Semis
• Play-In: Wei Yi Wins Swiss, Qualifies With 7 Others For Playoffs
• Chessable Masters Opens 2025 Champions Chess Tour Spearheaded By 5-Time Champion Carlsen
• Chess Makes Historic Debut At Esports World Cup 2025 With $1.5 Million Prize Pool