A Classic Final: Carlsen vs. Nakamura

Magnus Carlsen had the day off, as he waited for his opponent in the Grand Finals of the 2025 Chessable Masters. Thursday’s sequence of matches began with the Losers’ quarterfinals, which saw Ian Nepomniachtchi win 2-0 over Arjun Erigaisi, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda win 2-0 over Alireza Firouzja.

Those two winners then matched up for the right to a third match of the day, against Hikaru Nakamura, who earned the privilege of only needing to win one match after his loss to Magnus in the Winners’ final. The first game of Nepo – Duda was drawn in a long 3v2 rook endgame, where Duda had the better chances earlier on. Game two similarly had the Black player in good shape, and reached a moment where White had a chance to hold.

Nepo’s …Bg3-c7 allowed Duda the chance for Nd4! in an instance where …Kg5 is not possible because of the fork on e6. That would give White a moment of time for Nf3, blocking out the black king from White’s lonely h-pawn, and there would be good drawing odds with the passed a-pawn. Instead he pushed a4 immediately, and Black won quickly after …Kg5.

Nakamura – Nepo began with an even draw. Game two was a tumultuous one, where Nakamura had many chances to win, but Nepo survived down two pawns with queens and minor pieces left. Then in Armageddon, Nepo was unable to create chances as White, and Nakamura held a draw to win the match and set up the rematch, once again, with Carlsen.

The Finals match begins at 11:15 a.m. ET / 7:15 p.m. CET on Friday.

Graphic via chess.com