Nakamura had a strategy, and one that made sense. In fact, a lot of sense. He won the Tal Memorial Blitz and had a chance to pick any order of lot he wanted. He picked #5 to have white in the 1st and last round. Unfortunately, it did not work. With white in the first round against Mamedyarov, the recently crowned World Rapid Champion, he lost.
Anand, who finished 2nd in the blitz, had the 2nd choice in picking the order of lot. He chose to have white in the first game. He also lost, to Caruana, who finished dead last in the blitz.
Round 1 results
Anand, Viswanathan – Caruana, Fabiano 0-1
Andreikin, Dmitry – Morozevich, Alexander ½-½
Carlsen, Magnus – Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0
Gelfand, Boris – Karjakin, Sergey ½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 0-1
Mamedyarov is not the Blitz World Champion. That is Le Quang Liem.