The Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour Rapid/Blitz event is currently running in Leuven, Belgium. In the 18th round, played today, Nakamura had White against his personal bête noire, Magnus Carlsen. On his 23rd move, White removed Black's queen and an endgame was reached with balanced pawns and each side having a rook and a knight. If anything, it looks like White has an ever so slight edge, but nothing to be concerned about.
But Carlsen isn't the most feared grinder in the chess world for nothing. They kept at it, and Carlsen starts accumulating a small little advantage here, a tiny little plus there, and so on. Nothing that Nakamura couldn't handle, but his position slowly became unpleasant. Finally, with his 55th move, Naka cracked and played a losing move. He was close to losing, perhaps, if he had found 55 Ke1, but 55 Kd3 was immediately losing. Fortunately for him, Carlsen missed the winning move 58...Kf4 and the game was drawn.
Even though this was a blitz game, which accounts for the double errors on moves 55 and 58, I think Carlsen's technique from move 23 onward merits a closer look, especially for endgame connoisseurs. The link below will take you to Chess24.com's archived version of the game.
Nakamura - Carlsen, YourNextMove Grand Chess Tour, Leuven, Belgium, round 18
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