Super-superstar Magnus Carlsen won the second Grand Slam tournament of the freestyle chess tour. In the final of Paris, the Norwegian prevailed against US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. For Germany’s top player Vincent Keymer, the event in France ended in ungrateful fourth place.
Magnus Carlsen successfully rehabilitated for his semi-finals at the first Grand Slam tournament of the freestyle chess tour and celebrated a convincing victory at the second event of the series.
After the Norwegian benefited from a capital mistake from Hikaru Nakamura in the first final game and thus took the lead 1-0 on Sunday, he put the American cold in the second game on Monday and forced him to draw a quick draw, which was enough for him to win the tournament.
Magnus Carlsen takes over the top of the table
“I felt that I didn’t really offer him anything. I really liked the position after the opening. It looked like he had [Nakamura] Then had some problems. I didn’t try to get the maximum out of my position, “admitted Carlsen after the decisive draw, not even fully playing for victory.
Through his victory, Carlsen increased his points account to 40 and took first place from Vincent Keymer in the ranking, who had eliminated him in the semi -finals at the first Grand Slam in Weissenhaus in mid -February.
Keymer collects two defeats in a row
This time, Germany’s best chess player had to give up in the preliminary round. Keymer pulled the shorter one against Nakamura. On Sunday and Monday, he finally had a look against the American Fabiano Caruana in the small final.
The fourth place in Paris was enough to keep second place in the ranking with 37 points. Caruana with 33 points follows in third place, fourth is Nakamura with 28 points.
Bitter for Keymer: Third place, he would have qualified directly for the third Grand Slam tournament in Las Vegas. He now has to solve his ticket to the city of sin through the qualification tournament in Karlsruhe.