Carlsen swears when he loses to Nakamura
Carlsen and Nakamura drew the first two games of their match for the final against Fabiano Caruana, so they had to play armageddon to decide. The Japanese American player bet 9 minutes 17 seconds, while the Norwegian chess king bet 9 minutes 27 seconds, so Nakamura gets to hold the black piece for the time bet and just draw. And Carlsen held the white with 15 minutes for the game, and was forced to win.
Carlsen dominated after the opening, but failed to take advantage of the opportunity. There was a time at the end of the game, the five-time world champion had a chance to win, but he didn't have enough time to find the decisive move. In the end, Carlsen hovered the error and lost the post (Qf6 instead of Qxb6), leading to failure. If he doesn't make this mistake, Carlsen still has a chance of winning when he's more than a pawn, even though the computer considers the position a draw.
Carlsen got angry after making the mistake, slamming his fist on the table and swearing in English. At the same time, Nakamura raised two fists in victory.
This defeat knocked Carlsen out, in third place, receiving $15,000. And Nakamura was in the final against Caruana, competing for the $30,000 prize. The final took place within the United States, and the runner-up won $20,000.
Carlsen also lost to Nakamura in the final of Speed Chess Championship 2022 with a score of 13.5-14.5, in a more dramatic match. In recent important matches between the two players, Nakamura achieved better results.
It's not the first time that Carlsen's mouse-over error led to a loss. He made the same mistake in the first game against Le Quang Liem at the Oslo Esports Cup 2022. At that time, he leaned back in his chair, looking depressed, but did not bang the table or swear.
Chessable Masters taking place from April 3 to April 7 is the second tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2023 system, after Airthings Masters. This time, all three Vietnamese players passed the qualifying round in March 2023, to enter three different divisions. First place consists of eight top players, second place 16 and third place 32 people, competing in a dual format, with a prize fund of 235,000 USD. A player who loses two matches will be disqualified, and the winner of each class will not lose more than one match.
On the way to third place, Carlsen lost to Vladislav Artemiev, beat Quang Liem, Wesley So and Levon Aronian. Quang Liem left with $7,500. Two other Vietnamese players were also eliminated, when Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son received 1,800 USD, and Le Tuan Minh received 3,000 USD.
