Spacetime

Magnus Carlsen – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational; match game 3 (15+10); chess24.com, April 24, 2020
Slav Defence D12

16th World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is doing his best to save both the honour and the big money of his own The Magnus Carlsen Invitational online tournament, and, indirectly, to raise himself to the status of “game changer” with respect to the organisational and financial criteria of the next World Championship match. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Bd2 Be7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qb3 Qc7 11. 0-0-0 dxc4 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Be2 a6 14. Ne4 Nxe4 15. fxe4 c5 16. Kb1 Nc6 17. e5! A strong novelty which gives White the initiative, and much stronger than 17. d5 exd5 18. exd5 Ne5= Pârligras – Atakişi, 20th European Individual Chess Championship, Skopje 2019. 17. ... cxd4? This is surely a mistake. Simply 17. ... Rc8 18. Bf3 0-0 was fine for Black. 18. Bf3 Rc8 19. Rc1 Qd7? The second mistake causes irreparable consequences. Good or bad, 19. ... Qb6(!) 20. exd4 0-0 was probably Black’s best. 20. Qc2! Na7

21. Qxc8+! Nxc8. After 21. ... Qxc8 22. Rxc8+ Nxc8 23. exd4+− the endgame is hopeless for Black as he has no real defence to White’s Bishop pair. 22. Bc6 Nb6 23. Bxd7+ Kxd7 24. exd4 Nd5

25. h4! Rxh4?! For what it’s worth, this move, surrendering the h-file, only shortens the story. 26. Rxh4 Bxh4 27. Rh1 Be7 28. Rh7 Bf8 29. Rh8 Ke7. 29. ... Bb4 30. Kc2 doesn’t make much difference. 30. Kc2 f6 31. exf6+ gxf6 32. Rh7+ 1 : 0.