Giri and Nepomniachtchi end day 1 of the final of the Carlsen Invitational with honours even - Day 8

The final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational between Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi finished tied at 2-2 with all four games, all Sicilians, drawn. The first game was extremely sharp with opposite sides castling. Giri as white was winning according to the computer but Nepomniachtchi retained very strong practical chances and after 44.f4? (44.Kb1 or Kb2) Qe1 he had enough counter chances to draw. Game two saw Giri get a good opening and equalise, the game was drawn in 62 moves. Giri got some chances in the middle game in game three but these soon passed and this was drawn in 37 moves. Game four seemed more or less balanced throughout and was drawn in 40 moves. So all square going into the last day.

Magnus Carlsen beat Wesley So 3-1 in the first set of their 3rd-4th playoff. Carlsen caught So cold with a sharp sacrifice in game one. After 14. Nf6+ gxf6 15. Qh5 e4 16. Re1 So was still fine but he didn't consider his 16...f5 for long enough and it turned out that after 17.Bh6 he was already quite lost. Games two and three were drawn and in the final must win game So's attempt at complicating things again quickly led to a completely lost position. Motivation of either player is probably not that high and indeed Carlsen decided to play the LiChess Bullet Arena tournament almost straight after finishing today.

Final day 21st March 4pm GMT.