The world champion’s uncharacteristically sloppy tactical play cost him dearly in a highly anticipated grand final against Hikaru Nakamura, where the American’s deep experience with the tournament format allowed him to run out the clock just before Carlsen was going to set up a chance for a comeback.
This was the players’ third encounter in the SCC finals and while Carlsen has won their previous two meetings in 2016 and 2017, those were Nakamura’s only defeats in the entire history of the competition.
Matches in the Speed Chess Championship are made up of 90 minutes of 5+1 chess, 60 minutes of 3+1 and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet games. Each win, regardless of the time control, is worth one point, which means that even seemingly insurmountable leads can be overhauled in the bullet segment with strong play.
Though it was Carlsen who got the more promising positions in the first few games of the match, the world champion failed to convert either of his opportunities, then proceeded to make multiple uncharacteristic tactical blunders, allowing Nakamura to race to a 4-point lead by the end of the 5+1 segment.
The Norwegian did manage to narrow the gap during the 60 minutes of 3+1 matches, even as he continued to make jaw-dropping mistakes like hanging a piece in a single move in the fifth game of the segment.
Nevertheless, Carlsen rallied and managed to finish the segment in a strong fashion, and with just a two-point deficit and the momentum firmly on his side, it was all to play for in the bullet segment as the 2022 Speed Chess Championship headed towards a photo finish.
The chess heavyweights continued to trade blows in the bullet section and the momentum of the match continued to shift back and forth.
Nakamura maintained his two-point lead as the match clock was on the verge of ticking down, and though Carlsen found a breakthrough in a seemingly drawn position, his opponent built up enough incremental added time to run out the timer, denying Carlsen by a single second from a potential comeback and the tiebreakers that would have followed.
“My main strategy was to keep it as close as possible going into the bullet,” Nakamura said in the post-match interview, adding “you try to use the clock to your advantage” and defending his decision to repeatedly stall in losing positions to protect his lead across the tournament.
With this result, Nakamura secured his fifth straight Speed Chess Championship title and maintained his impressive undefeated streak against Carlsen in this calendar year, staying lossless in eight encounters.
The players will lock horns again in the offline World Rapid & Blitz Championship in Kazakhstan between Dec. 26-30, featuring the strongest players in the world.
