The Day After Tomorrow

Magnus Carlsen – Hikaru Nakamura
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational; match game 3 (15+10); chess24.com, May 3, 2020
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

And thus, Magnus Carlsen inscribed his name in the “golden book” of his own The Magnus Carlsen Invitational online tournament, by defeating Hikaru Nakamura 2½ – 1½ in a hard-fought 4-game final. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. 0-0 c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc4 a6 11. Ng5 b5 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Nxe6 Qe7!? A recent game went instead 13. ... Qe8 14. Nxf8 Bxf8 15. Bd6 Bb7 16. Bxf8 Nxf8 17. a4 b4 18. Qb3+ Ne6 19. Qxb4 Rb8 20. Qc4 Rc8 21. Qb3 Rb8 22. Qc2 Ng5 23. Rae1 Bf3 24. Qf5 Qh5 25. h4 Qxh4 26. Qf4 Nh3+ 27. gxh3 Qxh3 28. Qxb8+ Kf7 29. Qc7+ Kg8 30. Qb8+ Kf7 31. Qh2 Qg4+ 32. Qg3 Qh5 33. Qc7+ Kg8 34. Qh2 Qg5+ 35. Qg3 Qh5 36. Qh2 ½ : ½ Wojtaszek – Andreikin, Grand Prix 2019, 4th stage, Jerusalem 2019, tie-break game 1 (25+10). Nakamura’s novelty does not appear to be an improvement on it. 14. Nxf8 Qxf8 15. Ne4 Bb7 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Rc1 Qd5 18. f3 Qxa2 19. e4 Nf8. Clearly not 19. ... Qxb2?? because of 20. Rc7 winning material. 20. Rf2 Rc8. There’s no easy ending for Black to liquidate into, so Nakamura’s hurry in seeking exchanges is worth doubting. 21. Rxc8 Bxc8 22. Qd8 Qe6 23. Bd6 Qe8. 23. ... Ne8 24. Bb4! is White’s “brand changer”, but with the Queens on board — and the difference may be important. 24. Qxe8 Nxe8

25. Bb4! Grandmaster Alexander Igorevich Grischuk in his live commentary for chess24.com calls this “maybe the move of the match so far!”. Now White’s Queenside Pawn majority is nullified, while White’s Bishop and Rook exert powerful pressure against the enemy’s forces. That is enough for Carlsen to get a win: 25. ... Ne6 26. Rd2 Kf7 27. Kf2 Nf6 28. Ke3 g5 29. Rd6 Nd7 30. g3 Ne5 31. b3 h5 32. h4 gxh4 33. gxh4 Ng6 34. Be1 a5 35. Rd5 a4 36. Rxh5 Nef4 37. Rg5 axb3 38. h5 Nf8 39. Bc3 b4 40. Bb2 N8e6 41. Rf5+ Kg8 42. Rxf4. Who’s afraid of opposite-coloured Bishops? 42. ... Nxf4 43. Kxf4 Ba6 44. Kg5 Bd3 45. Kg6 Bb5 46. f4 Be8+ 47. Kg5 Bc6 48. e5 Bd5 49. f5 Kh7 50. e6 Bc4 51. Kf6 Be2 52. Ke7 1 : 0.

New Dramaturgy

Hikaru Nakamura – Fabiano Caruana
The Magnus Carlsen Invitational; match game 4 (15+10); chess24.com, May 1, 2020
King’s Indian Defence E60

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are the two finalists of The Magnus Carlsen Invitational online tournament, after eliminating 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) and Fabiano Caruana respectively. The game which follows is a good example of Caruana’s brilliant style — in spite of him being penalised by both the format and the time control. 1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Nh4 Bd7 6. e4 e5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Be2 Bg7 10. Be3 0-0 11. Nd2 c6. Previous theory gave 11. ... Ne8 12. 0-0 f5 13. f3 c5 14. dxc6 bxc6 15. b4 a5 with a typical King’s Indian formation (the game ended as a draw at move 42), Prohászka – Jobava, 41st Bosna Open, Sarajevo 2011. 12. 0-0 Ne8 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. b4 Be6 15. Nb3 f5 16. f3 Nf6 17. Na5 Qd7 18. Rc1 Rac8 19. Qd2 Rfd8 20. Rfd1 Bf7 21. Bf2 h6 22. b5 c5 23. Bd3 f4 24. Nd5 Nexd5 25. cxd5 g5 26. Nc6. Caruana’s opening strategy has quite failed, as White dominates the Queenside, while Black’s Kingside counter-attack is anything but imminent. On the other hand, Black may still rely upon the “unprofessional” time control, hyping up his tactical threats. 26. ... Re8 27. Kh1 g4 28. Bh4 Kh8 29. Be2 Bg6 30. Qe1 Nh7 31. a4 Ng5 32. Qf1? A strange loss of time, which gives scope to Black’s Kingside counter-attack. 32. ... Bf6 33. a5?! It was not too late to get back there again (33. Qe1).

33. ... Nxe4! Maybe not a game winner, but a game changer for sure — both psychologically and objectively. 34. Bd3 Bxh4 35. Bxe4 Bxe4 36. fxe4 Rf8 37. b6! axb6 38. axb6 Qb7 39. Ra1 Ra8 40. Rxa8 Rxa8 41. Qb5 f3! 42. g3 Bg5 43. Na5. 43. h4 Bxh4! 44. gxh4 Rf8 goes into something similar to the game. 43. ... Qf7 (43. ... Qh7!) 44. b7 Rb8 45. Rf1 Kg7 46. Qa6? Not 46. h4? on account of 46. ... Bxh4! 47. gxh4 Kg6!−+ winning as in the game, but 46. h3!∞ was probably White’s best. 46. ... Qg6 47. Qd3 h5 48. h4 (48. Qb1 h4! 49. gxh4 Bxh4 50. Nc6 g3! 51. Rxf3 Qg4!−+)

48. ... Bxh4!−+ 49. gxh4 Qf6! 50. Kg1 Qxh4 51. Qd2 Kg6! Just like a powerful, calm machine. 52. Nc4 Qf6 53. Na5 Qh4 (53. ... g3−+) 54. Nc4 Qf6 55. Ne3 Qf4 56. Qf2 Qxe4 57. Re1 Rxb7 58. Ng2 Qd4 0 : 1.

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.

Micro-g environment

Once again, 16th World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen confirmed his excellence in the rapid time control, by winning 3–1 his 4-game match against Fabiano Caruana, thus getting very near to the victory of his own The Magnus Carlsen Invitational online tournament.

Lofoten, Norway: Views of the mountain and sea on the Nordic archipelago. Photo: REX/Shutterstock.

Tomorrow Never Knows

So far The Magnus Carlsen Invitational is headed by Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, who will play tomorrow a 4-game rapid match (15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move) and then eventually Armageddon if tied. On paper, Carlsen is favourite to win, but who knows — some stories never end.

From Rice to Riches

Saturday is also the starting day of The Magnus Carlsen Invitational, an eight-player online rapid super-tournament with an unprecedented $250,000 prize fund which will go ahead online from April 18 to May 3 at https://chess24.com/, and that, besides Carlsen himself, consists of most of the world’s top Grandmasters, including Iranian teen Alireza Firouzja.

“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya: good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”

16th World Chess Champion (and world’s No. 1) Magnus Carlsen, whose title defence may be delayed at least one year due to coronavirus pandemic, has ambitiously announced The Magnus Carlsen Invitational, an eight-player online super-tournament with an unprecedented $250,000 prize fund, which will be held online from April 18 to May 3 at https://chess24.com/. The lineup includes Fabiano Caruana and 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), respectively the world’s No. 2 and No. 3, plus five other élite Grandmasters. The format is very one-sided: Eight players first compete in a 7 rounds single round-robin. Time control is 15 minutes per player, plus 10 seconds per move. The top four players after round 7 will eventually compete in a four-player knockout final. The Magnus Carlsen Invitational will be streamed live on chess24.com with commentary in nine languages.

Truman (Jim Carrey) leaves from the show. Screen capture from The Truman Show. Courtesy of IMDb.