Nakamura Wins Paris Grand Chess Tour Event
Hikaru Nakamura had a very good last day at the 2018 Paris Grand Chess Tour tournament, and Sergey Karjakin did not. That made the difference, as Nakamura not only erased Karjakin's one-point lead but finished a point and a half ahead of him. Wesley So had a good day as well, and like Nakamura he went undefeated on day two of the blitz. Had he played this well yesterday he might have won the event; as it was, he finished in third, half a point behind Karjakin. That also keeps him (barely) in first place overall in the Grand Chess Tour standings.
The U.S. has done very well, winning the first two events and enjoying the top two spots in the overall standings. However...this success does not include Fabiano Caruana, who once again finished next-to-last, only ahead of the wildcard. (That was Anish Giri in Leuven, and this time it was Vladimir Kramnik.) It might be bad form, but it may also be that he's a much weaker player - relatively speaking - at short time controls. If so, he's in effect giving Magnus Carlsen draw odds for their world championship match this coming November, as Caruana will be a heavy underdog in a rapid (& potentially blitz) playoff.