Chess 9LX 2024 Ends

Caruana wins, Nakamura second.

It was a two-horse race from the beginning, and although Hikaru Nakamura may have played the best chess overall - as even tournament winner Fabiano Caruana admitted - Caruana’s win against Nakamura on day 1 made the difference. Nakamura’s final score of 7/9 was excellent, but Caruana’s 7.5 points was even better.

Well back in third place was Wesley So, with 5.5 points, and then another point back, on 50%, there was a three-way tie for fourth-sixth with Garry Kasparov, Levon Aronian, and 2023 champion Sam Sevian. It was an excellent result for Kasparov, who could and should have scored significantly more. (For starters, he only scored a total of half a point from winning positions against Caruana and Nakamura; change those two games alone and it’s a three-way tie for first between them at 6.5 points.)

In minus territory, Grigoriy Oparin scored 3.5, Sam Shankland 3, and Leinier Dominguez and Ray Robson shared last with 2.5 points apiece.

Tournament site here, full crosstable here, the broadcast video is here, and a recap of the last day’s highlights is here.