MCI 3: Carlsen top as Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen could afford to “have a little bit of fun” with a double Bong Cloud draw (1.e4 e5 2.Ke2 Ke7 3.Ke1 Ke8…) against Hikaru Nakamura in the final round and still top the preliminary stage for the 4th Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event in a row. He plays Levon Aronian in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational quarterfinals after the Armenian star squeezed in on the tiebreak of beating Sergey Karjakin in their head-to-head clash. Ian Nepomniachtchi was the only player to qualify after starting the day outside the Top 8, taking the place of Daniil Dubov, while Alireza Firouzja is in the knockout for the 1st time.

Among the other players, Jorden van Foreest in particular had an impressive final day and overall showed he’s capable of beating the very best, but qualification never came close. Last-placed Alan Pichot, who got the chance to play through the qualifier at the very last moment, perhaps gave the best impression of the level of the world’s top players.

See also:

• Champions Chess Tour website
• All the Magnus Carlsen Invitational games: Qualifier, Prelims
• Spaced-themed Magnus Carlsen Invitational returns
• Grandelius and Pichot complete Magnus Carlsen Invitational line-up
• Magnus Carlsen faces Firouzja and Giri on Day 1 of his Invitational
• MCI 1: Giri beats Carlsen and So to snatch lead
• MCI 2: Giri still leads Carlsen as battle heats up