New In Chess Classic: Nakamura Leads vs. Mamedyarov
GM Hikaru Nakamura took the first step toward the final of the New in Chess Classic. The American GM defeated GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3-1 and now needs just two game points on Friday to qualify.
GM Levon Aronian or GM Magnus Carlsen started with a 2-2 tie with Aronian achieving a comeback in game four after he had lost the third.
The games of the New in Chess Classic knockout stage can be found here as part of our live events platform. IM Levy Rozman and IM Anna Rudolf are providing daily commentary on GM Hikaru Nakamura's Twitch channel starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe.
Carlsen-Aronian 2-2
In the quarterfinals, Carlsen started with 2-2 on the first day with GM Teimour Radjabov being the closest to match victory. This was repeated as Aronian had the better chances over four games this time. He spoiled a position with a healthy extra pawn in game one, after Carlsen had missed a basic double-attack tactic.
After another draw in game two, it was Aronian who missed a double-attack tactic, this time even more elementary. However, this only led to an equal position for Carlsen who nonetheless took the lead as Aronian erred in a pawn endgame:
Game four was a great fight and Aronian managed a great comeback. After a mistake in the opening, Carlsen was on the defense for most of the game but eventually won his opponent's crown pawn on the queenside. Aronian switched his attention to kingside where he weaved a mating net:
Nakamura-Mamedyarov 3-1
This match was bloody with four decisive games. We look at the two games with Mamedyarov playing the white pieces as an interesting theoretical discussion in the Nimzo-Indian took place there. It looks like Nakamura quickly looked at his notes in between games and Mamedyarov didn't:
All Games SF Day 1
The New in Chess Classic runs April 24-May 2 on chess24. The preliminary phase is a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advance to a six-day knockout that consists of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advance to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks only if a knockout match is tied after the second day. The prize fund is $100,000 with $30,000 for first place.
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Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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