Nakamura’s place

Wesley So won the final Fide Grand Prix, which was held in Berlin earlier this month. But it was Hikaru Nakamura, his defeated opponent in the final, who had the most to celebrate. Since he won the opening leg in February, in reaching the semi-final Nakamura secured a coveted spot in the Fide Candidates tournament, whose winner will become Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger. The second qualifying spot went to Richard Rapport, who won the second Grand Prix leg in March.

The Candidates event will begin in Madrid in June, when the two will be joined by previous qualifiers Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Teimour Radjabov. The final place looks likely to go to Ding Liren, in light of Sergey Karjakin’s disqualification.

Nakamura’s greatest strength is resourcefulness under pressure. Facing 19 Bd3xg6! (see diagram above left) many players would keel over. For example, 19…hxg6 20 h7+ Kg7 21 Qe7! leads to a quick mate, or 19…fxg6 20 Qe7 Qc7 (20…Bf5 21 Bf6 is no better) 21 Re6! threatens Rxg6+.