A Game of Thrones

Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana

1st World Fischerandom Chess Championship; semifinal game 8 (15+2); Høvikodden, October 29, 2019

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Position 642

The faster time control confirmed the trend of the “slow rapid”: Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So are the finalists of the 1st World Fischerandom Chess Championship. Fabiano Caruana, if nothing else, gave a hard fight against his Norwegian nemesis. 1. d4 f5 2. b3 Ng6 3. Nd3 b6 4. 0-0-0 Nd6 5. f3 0-0-0 6. Ng3 f4 7. Nh5 Qd5? A bad speculation. Whether it was for the good or for the bad, Caruana had hardly anything better than 7. ... Qf7 8. g3! fxg3 9. hxg3 e5!? hoping for complications. 8. Nhxf4 Nxf4 9. Nxf4 Qa5 10. e4 e5. Perhaps only now Caruana realised that 10. ... Qxa2?? was met by 11. Bc3! “booking” the Queen. 11. dxe5 Nf7 12. Kb1 Bb4 13. Re2 Nxe5 14. Qe3 Bc5 15. Qd2 Bb4 16. Qc1 Ba3 17. Bb2 Bxb2 18. Qxb2 Qc5 19. Red2 a5 20. Nd5 Bc6 21. a3 Kb7 22. b4 axb4 23. axb4 Qf8 24. Ne3 d6 25. Nc4 Ra8 26. b5 Bd7

After dominating the whole of the game, Carlsen concludes beautifully with a grand finale: 27. Nxd6+!! cxd6 28. Rxd6 Ra7 29. Rxd7+ Nxd7 30. Rxd7+ Kb8 31. Rxa7 Kxa7 32. Bc4 Qc5 33. Bd5 Re7 34. Qa2+ Kb8 35. Qa8+ Kc7 36. Qc6+ Qxc6 37. bxc6 Re5 38. f4 Rh5 39. h3 Rh4 40. f5 Rf4 41. g4 h6 42. c4 Rf3 43. e5 Rxh3 44. f6 gxf6 45. exf6 Re3 46. f7 Re1+ 47. Kc2 Rf1 48. Kd3 Kd6 49. Ke4 Rf6 50. c7! Kxc7 51. Ke5 Rf1 52. Ke6 Kd8 53. Be4 1 : 0.

Magnus Carlsen defeated his frenemy Fabiano Caruana and will take on Wesley So in the final that starts Thursday, October 31, 2019. Photo © Lennart Ootes.