Chennai
The star game of the day was Hikaru Nakamura versus Magnus Carlsen which ended in a draw after the American squandered a golden opportunity to defeat the world champion. The other two games also had considerable merit.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen was very much at the receiving end in the Scotch Game against Hikaru Nakamura and it was his opponent administering the torture. However, it was every bit as entertaining as games where Carlsen is in the driving seat as he tried to wriggle out from under.
It didn’t start too badly for Carlsen. Indeed, quite early in the game there had arisen a position where he could simply have opted for a repetition, unless Nakamura had taken a big risk and tried to diverge. Carlsen decided to press for a counterattack, probably because he was fed up with all those draws and felt obliged to win a game. In the end he would have been glad of a half-point.
Ian Nepomniachtchi prevailed over Michael Adams in a long-drawn rook ending to take the second spot. Anand-Karjakin had its moments, despite being only 20 moves long.
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