Wall of Glass

Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana
World Chess Championship match game 2; London, November 10, 2018
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 Rd8 11. Be2. Apparently Carlsen was surprised by Black’s 11. ... Rd8 — which indeed is anything but new — and, quite paradoxically, it was him who arranged for Caruana to have his surprise! Previous theory (Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian) gave 11. Nd2 d4 12. Nb3 Qb6 13. Na4 Bb4+ 14. Ke2 Qa6 15. Nxd4 Be7 16. Nxc6 Qxc6 17. Rxd8+ Bxd8 18. Kd1 b6 19. Nc3 Ba6 20. Qa4 Qxa4+ 21. Nxa4 Rc8 22. Nc3 ½ : ½ T. V. Petrosian – Lutikov, 5th Soviet Team Chess Cup, Moscow 1966. 11. ... Ne4 12. 0-0 Nxc3 13. bxc3 h6 14. a4 Ne7 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. cxd5 Nxd5

17. Bf3. The pseudo-sacrifice 17. Nxf7 leads nowhere for White, as after 17. ... Kxf7 18. Bh5+ Kg8 19. Bxd6 Rxd6 20. e4 Bd7 Mikhail Nechemevich Tal’s inspirational ghost gets covered in a glowing fog. They insist on being themselves, but in the end cannot do anything to get Petrosian to change his mind. 17. ... Nxf4 18. exf4 Bxe5 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. fxe5 Qc7 21. Rb1 Rb8 22. Qd3 Bd7 23. a5 Bc6 24. Qd6 Qxd6 25. exd6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Kf8 27. c4 Ke8 28. a6 b6 29. c5 Kd7 30. cxb6 axb6 31. a7 Ra8 32. Rxb6 Rxa7 33. Kg2 e5 34. Rb4 f5 35. Rb6 Ke6 36. d7+ Kxd7 37. Rb5 Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf7 39. Rb5 Kf6 40. Rb6+ Kg5 41. Rb5 Kf4 42. Rb4+ e4 43. fxe4 fxe4 44. h3 Ra5 45. Rb7 Rg5+ 46. Kf1 Rg6 47. Rb4 Rg5 48. Rb7 Rg6 49. Rb4 ½ : ½.

Magnus Carlsen looking far toward the glass wall for any sign of life. Photo: Terje Bendiksby/NTB scanpix.