Hikaru Nakamura Beats World Champion Carlsen in Bilbao

Hikaru Nakamura, currently #5 in the World rankings, has famously had a difficult time against Magnus Carlsen in classical battles, failing to score a single victory despite nine losses. Today in the Bilbao Masters he broke the streak and took down the World Champ with the black pieces.

[pgn]

[Event "9th Masters Final 2016"]
[Site "Bilbao ESP"]
[Date "2016.07.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. Nbc3 a6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. O-O
O-O 9. b3 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bb2 Qa5 12. Na4 Bg4 13. Qe1 Qh5 14. f3 Bh3 15.
g4 Qh6 16. Rd1 g5 17. Bc1 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qg6 19. h4 gxh4 20. Qxh4 d5 21. g5 dxe4
22. f4 e6 23. c4 Rfd8 24. Rde1 Ne8 25. Nc5 Nd6 26. Qf2 f5 27. Bb2 Nf7 28. Bxg7
Kxg7 29. Qg3 Rd6 30. Rd1 Rad8 31. Rxd6 Rxd6 32. Qc3+ Kg8 33. Rf2 Qh5 34. Qh3
Qd1 35. Qe3 e5 36. Qg3 Rg6 37. Kh2 exf4 38. Qxf4 Qh5+ 39. Kg1 Qd1+ 40. Kh2 Qh5+
41. Kg1 Nxg5 42. Qb8+ Kg7 43. Qe5+ Kh6 44. Qf4 Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Qd4 46. b4 Kg7 47.
Qc7+ Kh8 48. Qc8+ Rg8 49. Qxf5 Nf3+ 50. Kh3 Qd6 0-1

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Fellow US Chess Olympic team member Wesley So is also participating in the Bilbao Masters, and he drew today against World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin. Find out more about the event, including standings, live game links and photos here.