The Week in Chess

The 9th Bilbao Masters Final started with a huge shock as World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen went down to a loss against Hikaru Nakamura, previously Carlsen had won 12 and drawn 18 classical time control games against his rival.

Carlsen said he had a "very nice positional advantage from the start" before choosing the "wrong plan" indeed his position went downhill very fast after 19.h4. Carlsen said he missed 22...e6 (the only good move in the position for black) and he couldn't find a way to resist, after 26...Qf2 Carlsen tried for complications but Nakamura took his time and after 35...e5 there was no more hope for Carlsen.

Nakamura played down the importance of the win but he obviously must be delighted to get off the mark vs Carlsen.

Sergey Karjakin didn't seem to get too much against Wesley So and this game finished in a draw in 42 moves. Anish Giri will be disappointed not to make more of his advantage against Wei Yi who he allowed to escape with a draw.

Round 1 Standings: Nakamura 3pts (3pts for a win 1 for a draw), Giri, So, Wei Yi, Karjakin 1pt, Carlsen 0pts.

Round 2 pairings: So-Nakamura, Wei Yi-Carlsen, Karjakin-Giri