Dominoes

Magnus Carlsen – Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov
2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial; Shamkir, April 18, 2015
Grünfeld Defence D94

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be2 0-0 7. 0-0 b6 8. a4 a5 9. cxd5 cxd5!? For 9. ... Nxd5 10. e4 Nb4 see Anand – 王玥 (Wáng Yuè), Pearl Spring Chess Tournament, 南京市 (Nánjīng) 2010. 10. b3 Ne4? “After 10. ... Ne4, I am better”, then Magnus said. “10. ... Ne4 was a very bad move”, Mamedyarov agreed. 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Nd2 Bb7 13. Ba3 f5 14. Rc1 Kh8 15. Nc4 Nd7 16. d5! Magnus squeezes Black to death! 16. ... Rc8 17. d6 e6 18. b4! axb4 19. Bxb4 Bd5 20. a5! bxa5 21. Bxa5 Qe8 22. Qa4 Bc6 23. Qb4 Rb8 24. Nb6 Ne5? The lesser evil would have been 24. ... Nxb6, although after 25. Bxb6 Qd7 26. Rfd1 White stands better. 25. Qc5 Ba8. As they say, in a bad position bad moves come naturally.

26. Bc3! Nd7. This is insufficient, and meets a pretty refutation. 27. Bxg7+ Kxg7 28. Nxd7 Qxd7 29. Qe5+ 1 : 0. For if 29. ... Kh6 then 30. Rc7.

Carlsen vs. Mamedyarov. Photo: Shamkir Chess 2015.