Favourite Magnus Carlsen stamped his superiority over strong title-contender Fabiano Caruana 3-1 to retain his position at the top of the points table in the $250,000 Magnus Carlsen Invitational online chess tournament on Wednesday.
In another third-round match, Hikaru Nakamura added to the suffering of 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja 3.0-0.5 and moved to the second place.
Carlsen won the first two games and drew the rest to enjoy his “best day so far” in the competition.
Nakamura drew with first after Firouzja gained some advantage with white pieces and went on to win the second to take the lead.
In the third encounter, Firouzja moved close to victory but faltered under time-pressure and lost. In the final game, an exasperated Fiouzja got busted in just 14 moves for a third straight loss.
The results:
Third round: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt Fabiano Caruana (USA) 3-1; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) bt Alireza Firouzja (FIDE) 3.5-0.5.
