LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – World number one Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura will face off for third place at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam on Sunday (today), reprising their Paris Grand Slam final matchup, after Saturday's Lower Bracket battles.
Carlsen's path proved dramatic after an opening loss to India's Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. The Norwegian fought back to force tiebreaks before winning five consecutive games, including victories over his subsequent opponent Arjun Erigaisi, to secure his semi-final spot.
Nakamura advanced more smoothly, drawing his opening classical game against Wesley So before winning decisively to progress. He then defeated Fabiano Caruana by taking both blitz tiebreak games following two drawn rapid games.
Hans Niemann and Levon Aronian have already advanced to Sunday's $340,000 grand final.